welcome to "kasie dc." tonight we begin with the traj j jik story out of wilson, texas. 26 people have been killed in sutherland springs, texas. the victims ranged in age from 5 years old to 72 years of age.

and one of the victims was 14-year-old anabell pomeroy, the daughter of the church's pastor frank and his wife, sherri pomeroy. the gunman has been identified as 26-year-old devin patrick kelley. the gunfire started around 11:30 local time the the gunman walked into the first baptist church and started shooting. here's what a grandmother of two of the victims had to say. >> we're just waiting to find out what happened with my grandson. we just found out one of my granddaughters is not going to make it. i had four grandchildren and my daughter-in-law in front of the church. one of my granddaughters and my daughter-in-law were taken, too. we're here with one grandson still in surgery. he's been in surgery for several hours. he was shot four times. >> oh, my god. >> his sister was 7, like i

said, we just found out she's not going to make it. >> heartbreaking. let's go now to nbc news justice correspondent pete williams. pete, we just heard at some length from governor abbott. what did you learn or take away from that news conference? we still don't have very many details here. >> right. they have no idea yet why this happened and they say that's going to take some time because obviously they want to attend to the people who were injured and killed but they do say tonight several officials there in texas and here in d.c. see no obvious connection to international terrorism. they are now searching the home of the person who was the gunman, devin patrick kelley. he lived in comal county, not far from san diego, not an adjacent county but a neighboring county to where sutherland springs is located. people say he had relatives in that community which is about 650 people but they are just now

beginning to look into his background. we now know from the authorities that he had a semiautomatic assault-style rifle described by the texas department of public safety as a ruger ar assault-type rifle. he was wearing black, a bulletproof vest, stopped at a gas station, which i'm not sure you can see it in this picture but then went across the street and got out of his car and began firing the weapon outside the church where two people were killed and then went inside the church and continued firing. as he was running out, the authorities say, someone on the scene who had a rifle fired at ke kelley who got into his car and drove away, authorities chased the car and eventually found that he had crashed it and he had a gunshot wound but they don't know whether that was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or that was the gunshot wound from the person who fired the weapon

at him. obviously they will figure that out. the ballistics will tell them that. the big question is why. they say they don't know. and i'm sure -- we hope to get some answers. hopefully they hope to get some answers in the day or so to come. a lot of this they hope will come from a search of his house, social media, people he was in touch with. but tonight it's a complete mystery. >> so at this point the focus is simply trying to figure out -- it sounds like from the details that you were walking through this was something that was clearly premeditated if he was wearing a bulletproof vest. >> oh, yeah. >> does the death toll tell you anything about how this might have unfolded? in the vegas shooting we saw these bumpstock devices that increased the lethality that was going on. >> i don't think we have any suggestion that he did anything other than fire in a

semiautomatic fashion which, just to be clear, means that every time you pull the weaptri, the weapon fires a weapon. you don't have to do anything to get the spent round out of the chamber before the next one is put in. it does that semiautomatically. so one round per trigger pull. what happened in las vegas was, the weapons that were used there by stephen paddock were basically firing as if they were machine guns, hold the trigger down and it keeps firing very rapidly. but i think the fact that it was -- people -- obviously defenseless people in a very small space, you can certainly understand even with a semiautomatic weapon how someone can create such devastation. >> pete, we have no idea what the motivation might be here. this is something that appears to be a blank slate for officials that are just getting to the scene?

>> yes, absolutely. federal officials are there and they are there to help. murder is another aspect to it like a hate crime on federal property and when tough a murder on a vast scale, the idea that they are assisting the law enforcement officials and the texas department of public safety set up the news conference that basically it's the county sheriff in charng so everybody else is in support of that investigation. >> we will be talking to you some more about horrible tragedy. joining me now, ken delanian. you started your career in san antonio. tell us what you've been looking for or thinking through as you

watch these events that have unfolded. >> i spent some time working in texas and ft. worth, in the northern parts of the state and i covered international terrorism and terrorism attacks and every time one of these incidents happen in the united states, i contrast it with what happens when there's a terror-linked attack. we don't know exactly what is going on but it sure doesn't look like international terrorism. we often react and say where did the government breakdown? what do we know about this person? for example, the ft. hood shooting, a mass shooting in texas, how was hassan radicalized. i feel like the same questions are not often asked in the same way, where doat is the public re to this? if international terrorists were doing this at a rate that is happening with the mass shootings, we'd have a different

reaction. that's my personal reaction. >> i want to be careful not to go too quickly into the politics because we're just learning so much about these families that have really been devastated but ken brings up this idea and it does feel like over the last few weeks we've just been covering tragedy after tragedy, the shooting in vegas, what happened in new york city and there has been a different response. there was a different response in the wake of what happened in new york. >> and in the last two weeks, we've had two of the largest mass shootings in history. the largest death toll in vegas and then this shooting here today and we don't know anything about the motive or why the gunman targeted this church in this small town. it's too early to jump to conclusions but i'm sure there's going to be a discussion that starts soon about how to prevent these types of things in the future. >> and this discussion is already starting. chris murphy, of course, is the

senator from connecticut and he became a very vocal gun control proponent. he said, "as my colleagues go to sleep tonight, they need to consider whether it's worth the blood that falls on the floors of churches, elementary schools, movie theaters and city streets. ask how you respect human life over support for measures favored by the vast majority of your constituents." so we have very quickly moved to something of a political situation. there have been a host of other lawmakers that have tweeted about the tragedy or made remarks saying that they are praying and thinking about all of these victims here and, again, 26 people killed in a church starting at 11:30 this morning and of course the president of the united states,

jonathan swan of axios is here on our panel as well and he's in asia on this historic trip abroad and is set to make remarks, we think, sometime in the next hour, any minute, really, and this event is changing the tone and tenor of that trip. >> right. and we saw on the plane trip over, there was a touch on domestic politics. it was a rare moment of discipline for the president where he avoided and said i want to keep on message for this trip. obviously, this is now going to be something that is inescapable. >> uh-huh. we are going to, of course, keep our eye on what is going on overseas with the president but in the meantime, i want to bring in arzo dost of austin's kxan. what's the latest? >> reporter: well, we got here a few hours ago and we're a few blocks from the church and the community center. in fact, the church is behind

me. the community center next to it. all afternoon we have watched family members rush into the community center and really trying to find out if their loved one was hurt in this morning's shooting, even at this late hour, officials tell me that family members are still waiting to try to confirm. i talked to one grandmother who said this is a very small-knit community. we're talking about a population of about 400 and she said everyone knows one another. so really when this happened this morning, everybody started showing up to the church and helping out. i talked to another father who lives across from the church and he says he heard the gunshots. he could hear everything and immediately rushed inside when a bullet went through his house to get his young 2-year-old and wife out of the house he then returned to the church and started helping his friends who he has grown up with in this community.

kasie? >> we learned the identity of this shooter, devin patrick kelley. in talking to family members and people there at that community center, do you get the sense he's somebody that's known to this community or is he a stranger? >> reporter: i've talked to several people and, i have to tell you, the name does not ring a bell to anybody here. in fact, they say this is someone we have not heard of. they say, we know everyone that goes into this church. we know everyone who lives in this community. and so right now they say this is an outsider who came into our community and did this to us. kasie? >> thank you so much. we are, of course, thinking of all of the people who are there that you are covering. i'm sure you have a very difficult night ahead. appreciate your time. joining me now is law enforcement analyst jim cavanaugh, who, of course, is formerly of the atf. can you talk to us a little bit about what is going to happen next? it sounds like officials down in

texas don't know a lot necessarily yet about this shooter. they seem to have identified the weapon that he used but it's not clear how ultimately he received the gunshot wound that seems to have killed him in the wake of this. what do officials with federal agencies look for? what's the next step here. >> overall it's a crime scene and homicide investigation and overall the troopers and deputies, they kind of intermingle to do the interviews, the one interview of the citizen who shot the killer, he's probably a hero. this guy might have died from that gunshot wound from the citizen. so they will want to interview him. and, of course, collect the physical evidence, photograph is all. is there a person, kasie, other than the killer who could have aided, abedded or had some other

conspiratorial part in this? we don't know that. that question will have to be answered and, of course, is this person, you know, atf certainly looks at where did they get the gun, did he legally own the gun? if they cannot legally own the gun, was it modified, you mentioned the bump stocks. that was las vegas, the photograph that we've seen on the internet on the gun that this guy allegedly posted had no bumpstock but that's not confirmed it's his gun. this picture that is circulating that doesn't have a bumpstock on it but a semiautomatic rifle can fire with each pull of the trigger but that's deceiving when you hear it because it fires so fast that it literally just is a matter of seconds to unload a magazine of, say, 30 rounds. as fast as you can pull your finger, if you can pull your finger ten times like this, you can time it, count the seconds. that's how fast you can fire ten

rounds. you can do this 30 times. you can fire the whole magazine in that period of time and if you're shooting it into a crowd, you know, it's devastating. the velocity of these tactical rifle roupds as they go through people, through walls, through other people, shooting children. i mean, it's just going to be a horrible scene. and this guy, like you pointed out, i think it goes to the mindset of the bulletproof vest and he's got a lot of magazines, he's got a rifle, may have a handgun as well. he's running around the outside of the church shooting into the windows, shooting at all of the congregation and comes in the front door and he's doing more killing and, of course, we heard witnesses outside talk about cartridges on the ground earlier so he's shooting outside and then he may have been shot by a citizen with a rifle and then tries to make his escape and is found dead in the next county. he may have been trying to make it home or he could have been

trying to do more killing. >> jim, forgive me if i have to jump in as we continue our conversation because we are -- our viewers can see the bottom right corner of their screen, we're waiting for president trump to make remarks in japan. to follow up on what you were just explaining, one of my questions here is, if you were going to buy and use a gun like this and clearly this was an incredibly high, so many victims here, does it take formal training to learn how to use this kind of a gun in a way that would then be this lethal or is that something that wouldn't necessarily be difficult to do? >> it really takes no training. you can buy these guns in texas like a loaf of bread. they are everywhere. you can buy them on a secondary market, at gun shows, gun stores. they are everywhere. they are everywhere in many states. they are not hard to obtain at all. he could easily obtain them and easily buy the ammunition.

he could read the instructions that come with the gun. he could just stick the magazine in if he's been in the military, then he has the basic shooting skills to do it anyway. firing a gun like this into a crowd of people that are just unarmed praying, it takes zero skill, zero skill to do that and raising a shoulder weapon up and firing it and, of course, coming with a bulletproof vest, shows he really has a plan to do the mass murder and we call it a load-bearing vest and ammunition is extremely heavy so you have to put those in pockets usually on your vest. you'll see s.w.a.t. officers all the time, if you see s.w.a.t., you'll see they have magazines on their vests because ammunition is heavy to carry and you need something over your shoulder to carry it. soldiers do that as well. a lot of these killers adopt that practice so they can carry a lot of ammunition but it takes planning, determination.

this guy lived two counties away. he came to this spot and to this particular church for a reason and authorities are going to find out what is that reason. the reason is his reason and it might not even make sense to us but he's got a reason. it could be he's choking on an empty grudge, it could be he's after an ex-wife or her children, he wants revenge or the church might have done him wrong or he's after a particular class of people, or it even could be random. we just don't have those answers. but he's a local texas guy. could easily get the gun. that doesn't mean he got it legally but he could easily get a gun down there. >> ken, you've covered intelligence and department of justice and you're familiar with how this will all potentially unfold. what are the next steps as they try to track down whether this gun was obtained legally? >> it's actually more difficult

than you might imagine for the atf to run a praise on a gun and it's been set up that way by law. they are dealing with paper records and they will do it, though. they will eventually know where he purchased it. >> ken, i'm sorry. i have to cut you off because the president is just coming to the podium. >> thank you for representing so well the interests of the american people in japan and the incredible relationship that you have with japan. we really appreciate it. you're doing a fantastic job. thank you. let me begin today by addressing the horrific shooting in sutherland springs, texas. our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and families of

today's -- families were in their place of worship. we cannot put into words the pain and grief we all feel and we cannot begin to imagine the suffering of those who lost the ones they so love. but in dark times -- and these are dark times -- such as these, americans do what they do best. we pull together. we join hands, we lock arms and through the tears and through the sadness we stand strong, oh so strong. my administration will provide its full support to the great state of texas and all local

authorities investigating this horrible crime. i've spoken just a few minutes ago with governor abbott and we offer our thanks to the first responders, the fbi, all of the many people involved, both federal and otherwise. ultimately, they stopped the suspect and rendered immediate life-saving aid to certain victims of the shooting. i will continue to follow the developments closely. all of america is praying to god to help the wounded and the families of the victims. we will never, ever leave their side.

ever. with that being said, we are here today in japan with one of our closest and most cherished allies through bad times and good times, through rain and through shine. i want to thank -- >> it seems like we have lost our feed of the president of the united states. we'll be working to fix that technical glitch and make sure that we bring you the remainder of his remarks. in the meantime, philip rucker, clearly the president is having to play the role of comforter in chief. >> he's trying to console a nation that is another victim of a mass shooting except he's half a world away. it's got to be bothering him that he's not here. you remember after the las vegas shooting, he almost immediately, within two or three days, went

to vegas to meet with first responders and law enforcement and i think he's going to be eager to do that here. >> i think we have the president back. >> and its customs are ancient and its terrific. over the weekend, ivanka attended the world assembly for women with prime minister abe who i was with all day yesterday and i applaud prime minister and he's a terrific person, by the way, for his dedication to advancing women in the workforce and share his commitment to empowering women in business and in all professions. this morning, i'm pleased to have an opportunity to see how we can strengthen and improve the economic ties between the united states and japan. and i have to say, for the last

many decades, japan has been winning. you do know that. for the last 70 years, cooperation between our two countries has helped us to pioneer incredible advancements in it medicine and science and technology. our students study together, our scholars exchange ideas and business leaders like you work together to invest in a better more prosperous future for both of our nations. and i know many in this room have helped with commerce and innovation that it is today and i want to commend you for your incredible achievements in so many areas that i looked at a list of the people in the room and they are truly the leaders

of industry. i congratulate you all. names that in many cases i haven't met but know you well from reading about you on the covers of every business magazine and sometimes well beyond the business magazine so congratulations. fantastic job you've done. >> secretary of state rick stingel is joining us now. we'll monitor the president's speech and bring you any news as it happens. but rick, you have deep experience in public diplomacy. talk about the challenge and the president is clearly confronting a terrible tragedy back at home but is so much is at stake now.

>> the people of japan are paying attention to the horrible events in texas. the president has to have his mind in both places. i add that, you know, japan, since world war ii, has basically ben a pacifict nation. there are probably more weapons in texas than all of japan. it's something that the japanese are confounded about but the president has to show sympathy, show empathy for the victims and then he has to turn his task to the very important issues on his trip, which i assume he'll start reckoning with. >> what is at stake for the president in this trip across asia? if it weren't for the horrible events of today, we would spend time talking about that, especially with regards to north korea.

>> i think the stakes are very high. there's a number of things. on the one hand, just to see him and see that he can function as a head of state. they are looking to see what has happened to this obama pivot to asia that was something that the obama administration that we tried to do over the last four or five years where there's a recognition that this is the largest economic entity in the world and the united states can't just simply trade with some of its traditional partners, that it needs to move more towards asia. of course, there's the issue of north korea, which is something that affects everybody. i mean, that last north korea mission -- missile sailed over japan. japan has to be very concerned and is very concerned about what u.s. policy will be and want to see that trump is not doing something that is aggressive and that's an issue that will follow them throughout his trip. >> rick stengel, what impact do

you think the president's personal relationship has on this trip? he went golfing with shinzo abe, the prime minister there. he seems to be somebody who makes decisions based on what he's hearing from the people he's spending time with. >> i'm a bit of a contrarian and this idea that world leaders have personal relations that affects the relations between the country is a misnomer. it doesn't really exist. countries have interests. prime minister abe has interests. he will pretend or have a real personal relationship with donald trump but that will not alter the interests that he has in representing japan and, by the way, it should not alter the interests of an american president in terms of representing the interests of the united states. i think -- i think the president's emphasis on this is a bit naive. but maybe it doesn't hurt after all. >> maybe not. let's bring in msnbc national

correspondent chris jansing. she is live for us in tokyo traveling with the president of the united states. chris, this has clearly been a very difficult day for all of us here in the united states and a uniquely and challenging one for you overseas. what do you think of what the president had to say and how it's going time pact his time abroad? >> reporter: well, i think it's a very traditional response that we've heard from the president. he almost had to come out because he was scheduled to make these comments before the meeting with the japanese and american business leaders, you know, to say that this is a horrific shooting, that our thoughts and prayers are with the families and their victims and that we all feel the pain and the grief but later on, as you know, kasie, there's going to be a press conference. he has a very full schedule today that includes lunch and a bilateral meeting with prime minister abe. but then they will have that

kind of two press conferences where they will take questions from americans and one of them is sure to be what the response to this is going to be because, as you've mentioned, this is the third time in less than a month that the president has had to respond to a mass shooting. just last week, obviously, in new york city when someone drove a truck onto the west side highway and killed eight people, injuring 12 more and absolutely mind boggling horror of what happened in las vegas where 59 people were killed and after that the president said that there will come a time when time goes on is the quote and at that time the conversation was about banning bumpstocks that turn them essentially into machine guns. they act like machine guns.

nothing happened, as you well known, on a federal level although massachusetts just signed the first state law banning bump stocks. there's a lot of thought then that there was something about background checks so it's hard to imagine that it depends on who gets these questions, kasie but the question won't be asked about that. the weight of the frequency of what we're seeing requires some sort by the president. we can talk about the pros and cons of it and it's hard to see given what we've witnessed over the last three, four weeks and the number of lives that have been lost, both in the las vegas shooting and now here in texas and the efforts of charleston, people at prayer inside their own church could be gunned down in such a brutal way that it

doesn't require something gk forward beyond what we expected to hear from the president and what is the next step? the question certainly will get asked. the press conference after midnight, 12:30 a.m. is when it's scheduled for, kasie. >> in the wake of the worst mass shooting in a house of worship in american history. chris jansing, thanks so much. i'm sure we'll be talking to you again as we continue. and we are going to continue following the latest in texas coming up. later tonight, congressman joaquin castro and i'll speak with chuck schumer and what comes next as the republican party pushes tax reform. plus, major new developments, let's not forget this, in the investigation of michael flynn. senator angus king will join us to talk about that. you're watching kasie dc.

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as a state, we are dealing

with the largest mass shooting in our state's history. there's so many families who have lost family members. the tragedy was at a house of worship. >> 26 people were killed, including the shooter, and wounding many others at the first baptist church of sutherland springs, texas, just outside of san antonio. that number was confirmed by the state's governor, greg abbott, who you just saw there during a news conference. of those killed, a number of children. the ages range from 5 years old to 72 the gunman has been identified as devin patrick kelley and we know that he used a semiautomatic weapon and wore a bulletproof vest during the

attack. president trump addressed the shooting while in tokyo and said that these are, quote, dark times. i want to go now to andrea, a reporter with the houston chronicle. she's? stockdale where the press conference on that deadly shooting just wrapped up. thank you for taking the time to talk to us tonight. >> that's for having me. >> walk us through what it is that you have learned over the course of the last hour about where things stand? >> reporter: officials have been hesitant to release the name of the suspect or confirm details about him. they will only say that he's a white male in his 20s and that

he was spotted at the gas station, walked across the street to the church and was dressed in all black and fired at the church and then went inside. when he came out, there was a neighbor who had a rifle and a shootout began. the neighbor had shot at the shooter and then the shooter dropped his gun and fled. he was found 11 miles away deceased. it's unclear if he suffered injury from his interaction with the neighbor. so there's a lot that we still don't know, though. we don't have any idea of what

his relationship would have been. there's quite a few unknowns here. >> andrea, have you spoken to the families of any of the victims? is there any indication that he was known to this community at all? have you been able to ascertain from these officials who are telling us that they don't know? >> reporter: we at "the houston chronicle" have spoke to a lot of people. there may have been 50 people at church. a lot of the people that we talked to knew people who were attending that church. there are have few degrees of separation here. it's unclear if he had relationships with people in the church. there's been reports that a relative had a p.o. box address here in sutherland springs but all of this is still unclear. >> so why do you -- what is your sense of why authorities are

being so tight-lipped about who this man is? sometimes in these situations they want the public to know as much as possible, perhaps they are looking for somebody else and need assistance. in this case, they seem to have identified this man but are hesitant to say anything else about him. do you know why that is? >> reporter: they said today that they want people to be patient and i think they are trying to make sure that they have all of the information before they put that information out there. but, yes, the public is very interested about finding out why he would have done this. >> an dree yeah, i'm sure this is going to be a long night for you and everybody in your newsroom. thank you for the work that you do. >> joining me now is darren, a

retired lieutenant with the new york p.d. he spent 20 years on the force. thank you for taking the time to be with us. appreciate it. >> thanks for having me, kasie. >> this is clear and difficult situation. what are the next steps with andrea? the police don't seem to know very much about this person who has committed this crime and if they do, they're not saying. walk me through the next steps. >> they've got to do a backwards investigation. the investigation is going to start from where the perpetrator was killed and they are going to backtrack to where the shooting began and when that individual entered the church. one of the main reasons the police have yet to introduce, reveal details as to who the shooter is, they are trying to determine a level of complicit tea with other individuals.

what's unique about this church, it's in a very small community. however, the church oftentimes runs a youtube broadcast so the youtube broadcast has the ability to get this transmission out as to where this individual may have received this information as to what happens in the church. they've got to run a psychological profile on this individual. they already know what his identity is. they want to determine, were there any threats online? hence, what is his social network, who has he been in conversation with over a period of time. that collaboration of instances is going to come together and that's how they are going to move forward. in addition to this, we've got to look at the teachable moments and what happened in september and the church shooting in tennessee. coupled with what happened in the charleston shooting a couple of years ago. so that multitude of information and teachable moments that has been received from those two church shootings is going to be

translated into this investigation so they can gain a credible outcome on this. >> we now know 26 people are dead. two found dead outside of church and one died after being transported to the hospital. they range in age from 5 to 72 years old. we also learned from officials that the shooter was armed with a ruger assault rifle and was dressed in black tactical gear and a ballistic vest. that seems to indicate, sir, that this was premeditated. what will investigators do to try to figure out the source of the firearm and the material used? >> just to go back to the weapon, an ar-15 assault rifle is the civilian version of the m-16 weapon that soldiers use over in places like iraq and afghanistan. the only difference is, it

operates or functions in a semiautomatic manner, whereas you have to pull the trigger every time you use it. just listening to the number of victims that have been shot, i'm more able to believe that a drone magazine, meaning a high-capacity magazine was used in this particular case, for him to be able to shoot and kill as many people as he did. so when we look at the investigation, it's going to be a collaboration between the local law enforcement and atf to determine where this weapon was purchased and if it was purchased lawful fully, was there someone else that purchased this unlawfully and did something that we describe as a straw purchase, meaning someone purchases the weapon with an instent of giving it to someone else. you have to bear in mind, texas is an open carry state. so that being the case, it's very much possible that he could have walked into any gun store and picked this up or it could have been a gun show. when we think about the investigation, we're going to target where this weapon was

retrieved from, how this person purchased it and was there an unlawful means of purchasing this weapon. and then we'll see who he was in contact with and that will establish the ideology behind the shooting. >> thanks very much for your insight tonight. >> thanks for having me. coming up, we'll continue to monitor the president's trip to asia. right now he's in toek yo, jaky. and later, my one-on-one with chuck schumer. that's when "kasie dc" returns. and if that's not enough... we should move. our home team will help you every step of the way. still not enough? it's smaller than i'd like. we'll help you finance your dream home. it's perfect. oh, was this built on an ancient burial ground? okay... then we'll have her cleanse you house of evil spirits.

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welcome back to "kasie dc." 26 people were killed in a church in texas. it's the worst mass shooting in a house of worship in american history. we're also following the president of the united states who is overseas on a major high-stakes trip to asia where at the top of remarks in tokyo he addressed this shooting that we have been talking about all night, said that he spoke to governor abbott of texas and called it an act of evil. again, having to act as comforter in chief. our panel is still here, rick stengel, phillip rucker. this is going to be something that colors the top of this trip for the president but there's so much at stake for him on this trip to asia? >> there really is. it's a 12-day trip and the longest foreign trip that he's had as president. the backdrop is the ongoing

nuclear situation in north korea and president trump is really trying to mobilize support in the international community with the united states and trying to figure out what to do about the threat in north korea. the real centerpiece of the trip is going to come in china when he meets with president xi who just in the last couple of weeks has -- his power has grown in china. he's a strong figure in his country and president trump would very much like to get china on board and trying to help pressure north korea through diplomatic ways, through economic ways and other means and then there's the possibility at the back end of the trip of a meeting between trump and russian president vladimir putin. that would certainly be a major moment. >> i think that's an understatement. rick stengel, talk about the stakes that phil rucker mentioned with president xi of china. what might you expect him to focus on there and if he, you know, doesn't handle it the

right way or manages to achieve the goals that he's set out to achieve, what are you going to be watching for? >> well, we talked before about trump's predoliction of foreign policy and said that at the top of his news conference with japan that we've been losing to japan all of these years and he's saying that we're losing to china as well. i mean, one of the things that the chinese will look at is after trump unilaterally ended the transpacific partnership, tpp, which united all of the asian nations and an investment bank which was led by the united states was a cornerstone of president obama's rebalance to asia, that was the most delightful day for xi jinping in office because now all of these asian nations will have to belong to and if trump said we

were losing before, we're really going to start losing to china now. >> what he's trying to build, you might have noticed that they changed the language of how they refer to the region. they call it indopacific. they call it the quad and it's the u.s., india, japan, us australia. and the short-term objective is to constrain north korea and in a long term had has to do with china. with president trump, you have the military objectives saying that you've been beating us at trade and at the same time he wants to forge a closer military alliance. japan is unshackling itself. they put huge shackles around their military. >> huge shift for them. >> huge shift. so this is an important dynamic

in the region. >> phil, let's talk a little bit about how the president has handled what has unfolded in texas. you were making the point that it's different from what we saw unfold in the wake of what happened in new york city which had a very clear link to international terrorism. >> that's right. and a comparison i would make is how the president handled the shooting in investigation gas a couple of weeks ago and after las vegas, he did not want to have a conversation about gun laws. we heard a lot of democrats on capitol hill and activists in the country, you see it on twitter, people saying that you have prayers that are not enough and you need to talk about action. the president didn't want to do that. but after the new york shooting last week, he almost immediately started calling for a change in laws. he started a political policy debate with congress about our immigration system and our criminal justice system and our laws, the diversity lottery system.

so it's going to be interesting right now, and chris jansing was getting at this earlier in her report from tokyo, to see whether the president is going to address the gun laws at all. he may get a question about that today and at some point during his trip. >> there's another wrinkle to that. trump feels very warmly at a time when every group abandoned him in the campaign, they piled more money in and just really doubled down on him. he has a very close relationship with their top lobbyist. so there is that element. i think sometimes the nra influence gets overplayed. actually, it's a powerful constituency beyond the fundraising but with trip there's a real emotional connection with that group that he doesn't have with a lot of others. >> ken? >> it's worth making clear that the weapon that the police say was used in this shooting, an ar-15, the civilian equivalent of an m-16, is a

military-assault type weapon, the type of which was banned from 1994 to 2004 under a law introduced by senator dianne feinstein. it expired. there have been several attempts to reinstate it, particularly after the sandy hook massacre of 26 children and that has failed to pass. >> in fact, when they tried to do that, that was kind of the main goal of the push for gun control legislation but in the end, that very quickly was pushed to the outskirts of the conversation. i can't imagine that we're going to end up back there talking about this. it seems that it's really -- the debate has moved to a much smaller objectives on the part of people. >> even expanding background checks, as you remember from covering this debate on capitol hill a few weeks ago, there is overwhelming support for that in the polling and yet that could not pass in the senate. it could not pass in the house and i think the republican leaders of the senate and house right now are probably very unlikely to be willing to push that forward and we'll see what happens in this debate. we should also point out that we

know very little right now about this particular shooter, how he got his weapon and any of the circumstances. so it's a little premature to jump to -- >> we don't want to go too far. although, i think your point is well taken. we talked briefly about bumpstocks in the wake of las vegas. rick and phil, thank you for your time tonight. and later on in our show, we'll talk with senator schumer about what president trump's tax proposals have in common with dead fish and the uncertain future of daca and those known as dreamers. and then ryan costello, we'll talk about the sexual harassment in the halls of congress. "kasie dc" is back after this. then it hit me... managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease even after trying other medications.

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we join hands, lock arms and through the tears and through the sadness, we stand strong, oh

so strong. my administration will provide its full support to the great state of texas and all local authorities investigating this horrible crime. >> welcome back to "kasie dc." we're live until 10:00 on the east coast until the president speaks in east asia. 26 people are confirmed dead following a mass shooting in sutherland springs, texas, a small town 35 miles outside of san antonio. the victims range from the age of 5 to the age of 72 and one of the victims was 14-year-old anabell pomeroy. she was the daughter of the church's pastor frank and his wife. they were both traveling at the time. police identified the gunman as 26-year-old david patrick kelley. his house now being searched by law enforcement officials. the gunfire started around

11:30 this morning local time when he began firing a semiautomatic weapon. he was wearing a bulletproof vest. during a press conference earlier, texas governor greg abbott spoke about the tragedy and the mourning that is now following. >> this will be a long, suffering mourning for those in pain. we ask for god's comfort, for god's guidance and for god's healing for all those who are suffering. as governor, i ask for every mom and dad at home tonight, put your arm around your kid and give them a big hug and let them know how much you love them. >> here's what the president had to say. >> we offer our thanks to the

first responders, the fbi, all of the many people involved, both federal and otherwise. ultimately, they stopped the suspect and rendered immediate, life-saving aid to certain victims of the shooting. i will continue to follow the developments closely. all of america is praying to god to help the wounded and the families of the victims. we will never, ever leave their side. ever. >> let's go to justice correspondent pete williams who has been making phone calls and working on this story in the hour. >> i don't think we're going to

much more about that tonight. just outside new braunfels, texas, comal county, authorities are outside of where he lived preparing to search it. it's not possible for reporters to get close enough to see what the authorities are doing but that's certainly their next step here. they've searched the car that he di died in. he drove up to a gas station across from the church dressed all in black wearing a bulletproof vest. got back into his car, drove over to the church, got out of the car and immediately began firing his semiautomatic assault rifle, killed two people outside the church and then went inside the church and continued

shooting and killed 23 other people. another person was transported to the hospital and died. that's a total of 26. now, when he came outside the churnl, according to authorities, there was a man outside hearing the commotion who had a rifle and who fired at kelley and drove off and eventually crashed the car and when authorities caught up to the car, he had died of a gunshot wound. it's not clear if the gunshot came from the man standing by firing at him with the rifle or whether kelley took his own life. he may have had other weapons in the car. so one question would be, did he have another weapon in the car? that should be fairly easy to determine. but as for the big question, why, we don't know that. people say that he had relatives there in sutherland springs. he didn't live very far away. it's not the adjacent county but

one county beyond the adjacent county. all very close together. and that he knew people in sutherland springs. whether it's a personal connection, we don't know. one other thing that's worth bringing up, we believed he served in the air force and was dishonorably discharged. we're waiting for final confirmation from the military about that. a little difficult to get on a sunday evening. but it's apparent that if it is the same david kelley, he was dishonorably discharged. that's interesting in and of itself but also because, under federal law, it's illegal to possess a gun if you've been dishonorably discharged from the military. so one big question is where did he get the assault rifle that he used in this attack. >> just to clarify, if in fact we learn that he was dishonorably discharged from the military, that would be enough to tell the authorities that

these guns were not obtained legally? >> right. he simply couldn't. we don't know when he bought it. it could be that he bought it before he was discharged. and bought it legally. but at the point that he was discharged, it became illegal to keep it. but if it was purchased after his discharge, that will be a big question about how he got it. >> pete williams, thank you very much for your minute-by-minute reporting on this. >> you bet. >> i want to play a little bit, though, of a very emotional interview that my colleague did just a little while ago with sandy ward. she's a grandmother and had several family members, including grandchildren, at the church today. >> one of my granddaughters is not going to make it.

at this point, we don't know which hospital -- one of my granddaughters and daughter-in-law were taken, too. we're here with one grandson still in surgery. he's been in surgery several hours. he was shot four times. >> his sister, she was 7, we just found out she's not going to make it. >> oh, my god. >> that church was just like a family. it's like losing several members of your family. >> is this a church that you regularly go to? >> yes, ma'am. we've been attending this church for over ten years. >> and what is this church like? what does it mean to you? >> it's a small little southern baptist church. >> go ahead. and everybody is friendly. we're all like family, and they will help you however they can. and just in, former president obama tweeted, we

grieve with all of the families harmed by this act of hatred and we'll stand with the survivors as they recover. may god also grant all of us the wisdom to ask what concrete steps we can take to reduce the violence in weaponry in our midst. it's worth noting this has quickly turned into a debate about thoughts and prayers and exactly how the country should respond in the wake of this. joining me now is law enforcement analyst jim cavanaugh. jim, talk to us a little bit about what we know. the authorities have clearly been reluctant to talk about this man's motives or to say much about what they do know about him and what are the next steps for law enforcement. >> a personal grudge, any issues with a family member, custody, marriage, you know, churches get involved in all of those

personal things and domestic dispute, ex-wife or girlfriend who attended that church, all of those things have to be looked at. hate crimes can't be ruled out when you look at attacks on congregations because we've had a number of those over the years. all the nominations get attacked because of who they are, their religion. sometimes because the race of the people in the church. that has to be looked at and they are digging that out. and the discussion about not being able to possess guns if dishonorably discharged, this goes back to lee harvey oswald. they put the gun control act in 1968 and listed people discharged from the military as people who are prohibited under federal law from possessing guns. it's all directly from lee

harvey oswald. when you buy a gun, you have to answer on a gun form, have you ever renounced your citizenship. again, right from lee harvey oswald who traveled to moscow and put his citizen on there. a lot of the gun laws we know about today came directly from there and they've been kind of rolled back in the last 30 years to kind of take a lot of those provisions away. and i remember you covering the navy yard shooting and even in that case, if the gun control act laws of '68 were in effect, he couldn't have even bought a gun in virginia because he was a resident of texas. so, you know, back then congress acted and made the changes that made it a little more difficult for the killers.

it wasn't a panacea. it never is. sometimes these guys can be stopped if an officer catches them before the killing and they're prohibited, they could arrest him. if you stop him and they are not prohibited, you can't even do that. so it's good to have laws like that. those were enacted because of s oswald's dishonorable discharge. it's going to be a long investigation all night. and is there any group that wanted to hurt members of this congregation for their religious beliefs, for christians, their status, race, immigrant status, that's all possible. or is it a personal grudge, personal animosity. someone did him wrong in the church, someone helped somebody

he was having a dispute with or they kicked him out of the church. and i think by tomorrow they'll have a good suspicion about why he targeted that church. >> maybe that shooting was the first one that i covered for msnbc and i have not been in this business as long as pete williams and the number of these that we have had to cover is really hammering home how tragic this all is. thank you for your time tonight. we'll be coming back to you as soon as our coverage continues. joining me now is former fbi profiler clint van zandt. thank you for taking the time tonight. really appreciate it. >> sure. >> we never really found an answer in the wake of the las vegas shooting about why it was that that tragedy unfolded.

but the information that we have so far about what happened here, that this man was spotted at a gas station, wearing a bulletproof vest, pete williams is looking into these reports that he may have been his honorably discharged from the force, what are your questions and takeaways? >> part of this is that we see so many narcissistic individuals that are engaged in something like this where they have this inflated sense of self-importance. if that's damaged, if they have a wounded ego, they act out in negative ways sometimes. it's only been five years since the aurora, colorado, shooter in that movie theater where 12 were killed and 70 wounded. that individual dressed the same. ballistic helmets, load-bearing vests and multiple weapons. this guy can very easily be one more copycat. so far this year. >> we've had 60 mass shootings

where one or more persons have been killed and others have been wounded. in this particular case, you think we're going to find this individual and find his fingerprints all over the internet. there is going to be, as my friend suggested, some issue that goes to that local community, probably that church that he used as a reason to act out. he's been accumulating grudges against somebody or against that church or somebody within it. and finally, he feels justified in acting out in this terrible way and partially because he sees other people do it and we have to give it to him and we have to report these stories and the next person sitting there on the edge waiting to jump off psychologically is seeing a way to get fame, also. >> clint van zandt, thank you very much for your insight

tonight. i'm sure we'll be coming back to you as we learn more about this shooter down in texas who has killed 25 people so far, it seems. thanks very much. >> o >> okie doke. joining me now is senator ang gus ki angus king. this is not what we were going to talk about this evening but i think we have to start with the terrible news that is unfolding in texas. you may have seen the president responding to it on his trip from asia. what is your response to the events today? >> well, my first response is puzzlement. what can possibly go through somebody's head to make them do something like this. your prior guests were talking about motivations and perhaps a grudge or something with people in the church but to do this and kill innocent people, children were killed, i understand in

this attack, is just unbelievable. i think one of the questions that we're going to have to ask in pretty short order is how did he get that gun? if he was, in fact, dishonorably discharged, if we're right about that fact, let's assume that we are, he should not have been able to get a gun through the federal background check system. the question -- my question is, was there -- did he take a path around that, buy it at a gun show, did someone transfer it to him illegally? we had a huge debate about this, about four years ago in the senate, and the question is, we have a background check that is designed to keep people like this from getting guns but it has holes in it and so i think the first question we have as legislators is, was this one of those cases where the gaps in the law that led to a tragedy and is this something that we can fix without in any way

compromising the second amendment or the rights of law-abiding gun owners. >> senator, on that point it has really started to feel like every time we turn around we're covering another tragedy like this and i'm certainly hearing from some people that there's a real sense of frustration that nothing ever does seem to happen after the tragedy in newtown and even that wasn't able to get through the senate. do you share that frustration? do you think that something more should be done and is there any hope of that? >> personally, i come from a state that has one of the highest gun ownerships and one of the lowest levels of gun crime. we know how to handle guns and use them responsibly but this kind of situation, it seems to me, does call for some action. the problem is the debate about gun control has moved so far,

10, 12 years ago background checks, everybody supported. i believe in the late '90s even the nra supported background checks. now if you'd even talk about background check, people say you're trying to confiscate our guns. nothing could be further from the truth. my goal is to keep people who shouldn't have them from having guns, that the old nra slogan was, guns don't kill people. people kill people. if that's true, let's keep guns away from the people, whether it's in this case perhaps being dishonorably discharged from the service or a felony or domestic abuse, we couldn't even get a bill through last year that if you're on the terrorism no-fly list you couldn't buy a gun. i just think this is sort of commonsense and, again, it has nothing to do with compromising

the a second amendment. >> senati want to read the twee from joe biden. americans murdered again in a place of worship. he also writes, these tragedies are not inevitable. don't let hopelessness win today. we must persist in our efforts to prevent gun violence. we'll be back after this. ems a ? na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground.

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welcome back to "kasie dc" and another big story we've barely touched on tonight, the federal investigators have gathered enough evidence to bring charges in the probe that centered on michael flynn and his son michael flynn jr. this is according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. sources say investigators are speaking to multiple witnesses in the coming days to try and find out more information about flynn's lobbying work, including

whether he laundered money or lied to federal agents about his overseas contacts. this comes in the wake of the indictment of campaign manager paul manafort and rick gates. for his part, flynn jr. tweeted, the disappointment on your faces when i don't go to jail will be worth all your harassment." and here's another subplot. mueller's team is examining whether flynn tried to orchestrate the removal of a turkish cleric in exchange for millions of dollars. he lives in pennsylvania and turkey's president has accused him of orchestrating the coup against him in 2016. let's bring back nsenator angus king. senator king, where do things stand with michael flynn and his

son? there was an additional subpoena. is he cooperating with your committee? >> i don't want to comment on any particular witness before our committee. we are pursing leads wherever they lead. certainly he is one of the people that we need to talk to and if he doesn't cooperate, there are subpoenas and other legal processes that can compel him to do so. i think it's very important, kasie, to distinguish between our investigation and mr. mueller's investigation. director mueller is after criminal acts and we're after the facts, what happened in the 2016, technically, what did the russians did and how do we understand what they did and prevent it because they're going to be back. in fact, they're back already and we know they are going to be

involved in 2018 and 2020 and into the future. so that's the focus. but clearly, mr. flynn is part of the investigation that we're working on but i can't comment on his interaction with our committee. >> senator king, do you feel like at this point you have confidence that republicans on your committee are going to put the facts that you find into the public domain? and do you feel confident right now that you can get to that results or do you have concerns about partisanship about that? >> i believe we can get to that resolve. i think we should. it would be a huge waste of time if we don't come out with a set of recommendations.

to me, it's very clear. all of the issues that we're investigating the one that is unclear is whether there's collusion with the trump campaign and the russians. there's no doubt whatsoever -- the latest evidence is that the russians paid for ads on facebook with rubles. if that isn't direct russian involvement, i don't know what it is. and trying to interfere with state election systems which really worries me because i think we're vulnerable in the state. the answer to your question is, yes, i believe we will come out with a bipartisan support. i hope it's unanimous. are they going after the states and are they coming back? i think we're going to have very solid bipartisan on that. >> we have elections on tuesday.

ken has a question for you, senator. >> senator king, good to see you. the president has continued to say that there was no collusion. he's called it a hoax and fake news. can you describe your state of the evidence on collusion? >> no, because we're not completed. if there's no collusion, if there was no collusion, then he should be encouraging this and supporting it fully and providing information that he can. and the whole thing is fake news and the russians and down plays or ignores and denies that the russians were involved. this was an attack on our democracy and they are going to be doing it again in two years, four years and six years and

they are doing it all over the world right now and we should all be on the same team. if he keeps saying there wasn't any collusion, then open all the records. give all the e-mails. because if there's nothing to find, that's the best result, from his point of view. >> senator king, jonathan swan from axios. and is this something that you're looking into further and could you share your reaction to that story there? >> well, you know, i don't like to react to a story that's just broken and i don't really have the facts. i like to start with the facts and then reach conclusions but i do think that particularly given his testimony and his -- during his confirmation about vesting

himself of various economic interests in this country and around the world, if there's nothing to it, let's move on. but clearly questions need to be addressed. hopefully in short order. >> would you like to see him testify in an open hearing? >> yes. given the barebones of what was known today, without that i think probably the place to go is back to the commerce committee which was the committee that handled his confirmation to see whether the documents he submitted at the time were accurate and what this all means in terms of the full disclosure at the time of his confirmation. >> senator king, your colleague,

senator richard blum menthal, called for an inspector general investigation. is that something that you would support? >> the inspector general is actually i think a very important part of our government. these are independent investigators that are at every federal department and look into all kinds of potential abuses by federal officials and they are independent so i think that might be necessary but my instinct -- and again, i'm reacting on less than a day worth of information, but my instinct is that the commerce committee of the u.s. senate, which did the confirmation, would be the place to at least begin asking these questions. >> senator angus king, thank you so much for your in the moment reaction to that story and others. we hope you'll come back to "kasie dc" another time. we'd love to talk to you again.

>> glad to, kasie, thank you. next, the latest on the investigation into the terrible shooting that we have been covering in texas, right after this. in situations like this, there's no time for distractions. it's not enough to think i'm ready. i need to know i'm ready. no matter what lies ahead. get a free sample at depend.com.

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the latest on the deadly mass shooting in texas. 26 people, including the shooter, were killed with many others wounded at the baptist church in sutherland springs outside of san antonio, texas. that number is confirmed by the state's governor, greg abbott, during a news conference earlier. among those killed were children. the ages ranging from 5 years old to 72. the gunman has been identified as 26-year-old devin patrick kelley of coul comal county. >> this is such a tragic manner and everybody's got to look their doors now. we don't always lock our durs here. they are going to bring their car keys in the house and probably keep a rifle by their

bed just in case somebody tries to copycat. this is not the way we think and we live out here. >> his house is now being searched by officials and he was wearing a bulletproof vest during the attack. president trump said these are, quote, dark times. the president also offered the white house's full support to the state of texas. joining me now, republican congressman ryan costello of pennsylvania. congressman, thank you for taking the time to join me tonight. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> you represent a suburban district in the philadelphia area, which puts you in a little bit of a different situation than some other members of your party on questions of what to do when we are faced with something like this and we shouldn't know if these guns were obtained legally, illegally.

and pete williams said he was possibly dishonorably discharged from the military which would prevent him from owning any weapons at all. >> it's horrific and it really is a solemn overcoat to any other subject that we would talk about. until all the facts come out, i would be reluctant to wade too deeply into what should or shouldn't be done relative to what happened today. if we go back to las vegas and look at the bumpstock issue -- and this happens a lot with firearms-type issues, a lot of americans don't know what they don't know about these sorts of issues. i didn't know what a bumpstock was but to learn that you can go into a store and buy it off a shelf and turn a weapon into an automatic weapon without any additional permitting, without any additional paperwork, that's

not right. and so from that perspective, my colleague carlos and seth introduced legislation to bannon. i floated an idea picked up by ryan fitzpatrick that would at least take -- require you to go through a process in order to ultimately get a bumpstock if you should even get a bumpstock. that legislation has not moved yet. i hope that it will and i think in these sorts of tragedies, the most important thing is let's get all of the facts that i think your news organization is doing a good job of right now. what we've learned in the last 45 minutes is different from what we knew two or three hours ago. let's figure out if this was avoidable, how it could have possibly been avoidable. >> in the wake of the las vegas tragedy, there was quite a bit of upswell. some people didn't even know what a bumpstock was.

it's not something that you need in the context that he had used guns in the past and at the same time, there was a letter that was written to the atf asking for them to make a different decision but at the end of the day, we haven't seen any action. >> that frustrates me. i signed on to that letter. if the atf says they have jurisdiction and they are going to move forward, great. if they are not and it requires congress either to vest jurisdiction within them or otherwise provide a mechanism so you can't turn a bumpstock into the functional equipment of an automatic weapon, that's commonsense. whether it's because i live in the philly suburbs or because that shouldn't happen, let's hope we address it. >> i think this is going to be the start of another national

conversation on this issue. congressman costello, thank you for coming here tonight and we hope you'll be back and perhaps we'll have better news to talk about than this evening. >> yes. >> joining me now, though, i want to go to texas. tony piletski from the austin american statesman. tony, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us tonight. >> you bet, kasie. >> tell us a little bit about what you have been reporting on on the ground. have you been on the scene? what is the latest that's coming in to your newsroom? this has got to be a very difficult day for all of you at the paper. >> sure. well, just within the last few minutes, a prayer vigil has wrapped up about a block away from the scene of that shooting. several hundred people here holding hands with candles, praying for god to give them strength to go on after a tragedy like this came to their town, their community, a community of about 500 people

here. obviously a community that is shocked but also unbelievably grief stricken as they learn of family members and friends and what happened earlier here today. >> have you at any point talked to anybody who knew the man that's been identified as the shooter devin kelley or is he unknown to this community? >> that's part of the investigation that we are doing, trying to learn as much as we can about the gunman. he opened fire on this church at about 11:30 this morning and according to authorities had been in this area at a nearby gas station before walking over to that church and bursting

inside and open fire. i stand at a gas station and look across the street of the church. the sign of the church is still lit up and they are advertising their fall fair that was actually just a few nights ago. so to think that, you know, just a few nights ago this church and also earlier today, for that matter, was the scene of something, you know, so happy as chur churchgoers and worshippers here were ushering in fall, only to have that joy replaced by the sound of gunfire earlier today. >> tony, talk a little bit about a role that this church played in this community. we're seeing the numbers of people that were killed on the screen, but this was a tiny community. i mean, 25 people in this church out of 500, 600 in this community. that is just a -- such a horrible blow. and what people here will tell

you, it is not unlike many small communities really across america where church technically becomes the hub of social activity. it's where people go to see each other, to obviously worship together and also church families become part of your extended family and so the depth of the pain that the townspeople are going through here is really just unimaginable and really difficult for many of them to put into news. >> a u.s. spokesperson for the air force says that devin kelley served in logistics readiness at holloman base in new mexico until 2010 when he was discharged. the air force is looking into what type of discharge he had from the air force.

now, that matters because if he were dishon blorably discharged pete williams was trying to determine earlier this hour, that would have prevented him from purchasing a firearm. he would have been not able to purchase a gun legally in the united states because of the laws on the books in this country. so again, we're still trying to confirm the nature of his discharge but that he was at one point a member of the air force. we don't seem to know much about him beyond that, though. >> right. along with, you know, obviously all of his past, whether or not he has prior arrests or violence. people here are asking those

questions as well, why would someone target this community, this church to carry out such an act of violence like he did earlier today. >> tony of the austin american statesman, thank you so much for your time. >> thank you, kasie. >> i wish the community best as they struggle there. >> you bet. thank you. still to come, our interview with senator chuck schumer and we'll be joined by congressman joaquin castro of san antonio. "kasie dc" is back after this. ♪ (vo) you can pass down a subaru forester. (dad) she's all yours. (vo) but you get to keep the memories. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

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welcome back to "kasie dc." joining me now is congressman who represents the area near sutherland springs. >> thank you so much. >> congressman, i'm sure you've been talking to constituents, to people who have been impacted by this horrible tragedy. what have you learned from them

and the strength of their community in the wake of such a tragic day? >> well, you know, i started off by talking to the sheriff about two hours after the event happened, talked to some of the local county commissioners, i've talked to some of the folks that live in that area. i'm very familiar with sutherland springs. i've represented that area for i think almost 13 years. it's a small community, less than 400 people. people know each other. so when the news was released, the names of the victims that we know some of them already but once they're released, everybody is going to know each other there. it's a small, tight-knit community that is probably asking themselves, why us, why us. now, i believe and i think we'll find this out later, that there has to be some sort of n ecexus

have this person come down from comal county and go to that church in sutherland springs, he must have known somebody there and i think we'll find out the reason very soon. i did talk to the sheriff but he's been working all day. i will talk to him again later on but it's a very, very difficult time we need to let people grieve right now and let them heal. my office goes and visits that community once a month to provide services and first thing in the morning, 8:00, they will be there providing any assistance that they can provide and, again, i feel for that community at this moment. >> you mentioned what we do or don't know about the shooter. we are told that there was potentially a relative there with a p.o. box. it was possible to watch services that this church held on youtube. they put their services online.

at this moment, has the sheriff gotten any indication of what his connection might be in that regard or not? >> well, i will be talking to the sheriff hopefully soon. but to the sheriff hopefully soon, but again it's a community that i think there would be some sort of connection there. you see north of san antonio, comal county, southeast is sutherland city. it's a very remote part of wilson county, so that person, didn't just by accident find that church. that person knew somebody, was related to something, had some sort of motive going to that particular town, to that particular church.

congress mast, we appreciate your time tonight. thank you. all of this unfolding as president trump continues his trip in asia. we'll dig into that, next. na. ever since we switched to fedex ground business has been great. they're affordable and fast... maybe "too affordable and fast." what if... "people" aren't buying these books online, but "they" are buying them to protect their secrets?!?! hi bill. if that is your real name. it's william actually. hmph! affordable, fast fedex ground.

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we want fair and open trade, but right now our trade with japan is not fair and it's not open we want free and reciprocal trade, but right now it's not free and not reciprocal. i know it will be. >> we're expecting to see more from president trump in just a bit. >> let's bring in national

security analyst evelyn farkas. the top of his remarks very focused on the tragedy we've been covering, but very critical high-stakes moment for the president. we heard them talking a about i had about trade. how would you e -- and what are you watching for over the next day. >> kasie, i think it's going well. the optics proprime minister abe is going, but what's at stake -- this is the easy part. japan is -- in the moment, country to country, but what is at stakes is the influence of the united states as exercised through president trump he's

empowered by the -- president xi, and president xi has gotten closer with the south korean president. they had a recent meeting and basically reconciled over different issues with the theater air defense, the thaad system. that's one sticking point they resolved. he's got to solidify, do something with that -- solidify that relationship. and finally you terrorism, when they go ahead to the philippines. at big mac rho question is how -- >> jonathan swan, what is your

sense? it seems like the -- with president xi. it also seems over the last few weeks concerns, about whether the president would be a steady ally in this confrontation with north korea. >> and what we are already seeing the playbook not going as was foreshadowed, certainly to me by a couple administration officials. they say the first two legs will be all about national security, north korea, physical security. china is the fulcrum where you discuss both, and the back end of the trip in vietnam and the philippines is economics. he hayes taken trade and shoved it in there. he's going to go to south korea, and that thing is about to blow up, teetering on the edge. i don't know how this is gob to play out. it's liking pretty precarious to me. we have to leave is it there, unfortunately. we are reach roa eaching the top of the hours.

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liberty mutual insurance. welcome back to "kasie dc." the president is traveling in asia. we expect to see him coming up soon, but first we want to bring you back to our top story. there are now vigils under way for the victims of today's attack. it was the most deadly mass shooting in a place of worship in american history. 26 people are confirmed dead, including the shooter, after an attack on a church in sutherland springs, texas, a small town outside of san antonio. the victims range between the ages of 5 and 72ier. one of the victims was annabelle pomeroy. she was the daughter of the church's pastor frank and his