accepted nra donations. it's quite a list. two gun control groups, every town for gun safety, moms demand action for gun sensitive america. find out how much your lawmakers got from the center for responsive politics. go to open secrets.org and search for nra. that wraps up this busy hour for me. thank you for watching. deadline white house with nicolle wallace starts right now. >> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. we are covering breaking news on multiple fronts today. we are awaiting a listening session at the white house with students and parents affected by the deadly school shooting at columbine, sandy hook and last week's shooting in parkland, florida. as we await that event we have been glued to our television sets all day long listening to the passionate voices of student activists from tallahassee to washington, d.c. who are demanding action on gun laws. but first, as the president considers changes to his pro-nra gun position, it is important to

remember that those deliberation s are taking place inside the white house in full crisis mode over the president's anemic response to russian meddling confirmed by mueller and every member of his security team. unanswered by any policy change or change in the public messages that the president expresses about his favorite strong leader, vladimir putin. with the president's twin irritants, the russia investigation and the predecessor, he lashed out at his attorney general on twitter writing, quote, question, if all of the russian meddling took place during the obama administration, right up to january 20th, why aren't they the subject of the investigation? why didn't obama do something about the meddling? why aren't dem crimes under investigation? ask jeff session. no s. our pal phil rucker at the washington post write up the piece titled trump's tougher on

russia claim fits a pattern of striving one of obama. jennifer puts it this way. trump is personally weaker than obama in dealing with putin in spite of him, his national security staff has continued and in fact strengthened obama era policies in certain discrete areas. with him there, however, russia has a sympathetic ear and rhetorical helper who will attack the fbi, the free press and democrats rather than putin. the president's twitter broadside comes as tensions between white house chief of staff john kelly and the president's son-in-law are at a high point. "the new york times" writing today, quote, mr. kelly, his job at risk and his reputation as an enforcer of order and discipline, tarnished by the scandal is working to revamp the security clearance process, starting with an effort to strip officials who have interim clearances of their high-level access. kushner concerned that mr. quell

i h kelly has targeted him personally with the directive has told colleagues at the white house he's reluctant to give up his high-level access. as we wait with reporters and guests, with us from "the new york times," former u.s. attorney now law professor at the university of alabama. joyce vance. with us at the table, chris whipple, authors of the gate keepers. how the white house chief of staff defines every presidency. nick. jason johnson, politics editor for the root, and elise jordan, former aide to the george w. bush white house, rand paul, and she missed yesterday's conversation. let me start with you, matt, because you contributed to the reporting about tensions with jared kushner, president's son-in-law, and white house chief of staff john kelly being at an all-time high. this seems like a standoff where they both cannot win. this is zero sum.

either john kelly rules the day and his edict, his new policies for background clearances apply to the president's son-in-law jared kushner, and he loses his interim status, or jared kushner wins and i don't know how john kelly stays in that job with any authority. >> well, look, you're absolutely right about the tension here. the white house put out a statement yesterday night and said kelly has the utmost confidence in jared kushner and that none of these changes should have any effect on his ability to do the his job. they're cagey about what the status his clearances are, what level he's at. you can get some, you can get interim clearances at different levels. this is the guy who is the point person on mid east peace. certainly that is something that involves national security and foreign policy information. so, you're right. something is going to have to give here. i'm not sure why we haven't

seen the white house be more insistent. let's make -- kushner is a high-level advisor to the president. let's make it a priority, get his background check zun done. it's extensive. he has a lot of overseas travel. there is a lot to go through. but at some point it's got to be, is he cleared or not cleared? let's get through this interim process. >> do you have any reporting that suggests that the fbi is not done with their part of the process? and do you have any reporting that suggests there is some middle road? i mean, he's one of very small group of people looking at the pbb, the single most sensitive piece of intel in the white house. is there any talk that you're picking up there is some middle road where john kelly saves face and jared kushner can keep the two jobs you just described? >> well, as far as, you know, sort of the political machineations going on at the white house, god, i wouldn't even begin to predict how those

personalities shake out. but in terms of where the fbi comes down on this, look, if the fbi had concerns -- we've seen this in the porter case -- they can certainly raise concerns and say, look, we're not finished with our investigation, but you need to be aware there are some red flags here. we don't have any indication that's happened with jared kushner. if there are concerns with the national security side that this is somebody you shouldn't be looking at national security information, they can and they're probably obligated to say, hey, we have real concerns about this. so, it's not clear -- we're just not sure why this is taking so long. and the white house and people close to kushner have tried to portray this as, this is just the process of going through this super long background check process for somebody who has done a ton of overseas travel, has had a lot of foreign contacts and has really complicated financial instruments. >> there is nothing normal about this process. i want to ask you if there's any connection or any overlap

between what we know to be true, that jared kushner is potentially a witness who is of interest in the mueller probe. he's also been up in front of at least one of the intel committees. i believe it was on the house side. what he knows and what he did and when he knew it and when he did it is of interest to those investigating russian collusion. >> there can't be any doubt that the subject of the investigation the fbi is doing also poses difficulties for fbi agents trying to give kushner a background clearance. and, nicolle, you know like i do, when the fbi has the priority on background clearance, you as somebody need to talk to to do the clearance, you get the phone call on a saturday morning or sunday night, they are used to being told to put these things together very quickly, even when you have someone who has a complex background like kushner, who has a lot of foreign travel. so, i feel sure that the fbi is

done with their piece. and based on the information that we know publicly about his foreign financial entanglements and his failure to disclose them, it seemed like this would be a very difficult clearance process for them. you know, the president can always put on his security clearance fairy godmother outfit and wave the magic wand and give kushner security clearance. that would be poor judgment given the derogatory information in his background which also makes him a subject of the criminal investigation. >> you also tweeted a response to donald trump's twitter tirade against his sitting attorney general. if only he were as harsh to vladimir putin as he is to poor jeff sessions. the president tweeting, if all the russian meddling took place during the obama administration right up to january 20th, why aren't they the subject of the investigation? why aren't they under investigation? ask jeff sessions. you responded on twitter, i'm

curious. respond. >> well, the president obviously is not a constitutional lawyer or former prosecutor so it's important that we offer him some education here. and in order for the justice department to open an investigation into someone's activities, they have tomorrow actually committed a crime. the fbi doesn't open an investigation in the absence of criminal predication. so, the fact that russia meddled in our elections while obama was the president isn't really what it would take for jeff sessions to open an investigation. what it would be would be conduct that indicated potentially collusion with the russians in those activities, a failure to report any sort of contact with russians, or perhaps interference with an investigation. hopefully the president will come to understand that and will stop asking his attorney general to open pointless, meaningless criminal investigations. >> i need you to take me to school, professor. i want to turn to you.

let me put up a list of all the political opponents the president has had investigated. president obama. hillary clinton. former fbi director jim comey. congressman adam schiff, chuck schumer, nancy pelosi and joe scarborough. this is where strong chief of staff chris whipple comes in. you've written a whole book about chiefs of staff that probably went from a book for political junkies and historians and is now a titlating scandal. it's flying off the shelves. you write, reince priebus was told to get sessions' resignation flat out, said a white house insider. the president told him, don't give me any [ bleep ] . can't bre[ bleep ] out the trum world. once more priebus told trump white house insider, if i get this resignation, you're in for

a spiral of calamity that makes comey look like a picnic. rosenfeld is going to resign. it is going to be a total mess. the president agreed to hold off. now, this anecdote is stunning. i read it and i thought it was hauntingly similar to the anecdote about don mcgahn making many of the same arguments when donald trump wanted to fire bob mueller. what is going on in there? >> well, look, we've all known it's the most dysfunctional white house in modern history. but it turns out we didn't know the half of it. there is a wild ride under priebus, continues to be wild under kelly. one of the wildest stories that took place was the night of may 17th, eight days after comey was fired, don mcgahn goes bursting into reince priebus's office and says, you're not going to believe this. not only do we have a special counsel, but jeff sessions has just resigned. this hadn't been reported before. priebus goes crazy and goes running down the back steps of the white house into the parking lot, finds the attorney general

sitting in his car with the motor running, jumps in, drags him out of the car, takes him back up to his office. bannon comes in, steve bannon and mike pence, and they work sessions over and they talk him into staying. trump, of course, would have been happy to have been rid of him at that moment. so, reince priebus said to me, you know, chris, that was just another day at the office. this happens all the time. so, you know, the dysfunction that we've seen is just a continuation. and clearly kelly has got a plate of problems himself. >> matt, i want to bring you back in because i think you share a by line with your colleague, a version of this, i've never heard of all of this. i've never heard it from reince's perspective. jeff sessions was near tears. donald trump doesn't call you one on one. he turns to twitter. you've done some of the reporting. this story is another stunning

piece of the highly dysfunctional relationship between the president and his most senior advisors, his cabinet. >> and it really does -- it really does go to where are the boundaries between the white house and the justice department. if you talk to people who are career people of the justice department and the fbi, i mean, for the most part, they just want to be left alone and to do their job. and you and i have had this conversation before, nicolle. the president actually makes it harder for jeff sessions to do the things that the president wants him to do because then it ends up looking like he's only doing it because he's being told to do it. so, we're seeing that with the clinton foundation, right? the president of the united states tweets out that the clinton foundation should be under investigation. uma aberdeen should be tossed in jail. they are getting renewed scrutiny and maybe for totally legitimate reasons. but it's always going to have that stink of he's just doing it because the president told him

to do it and that is why presidents normally -- one of the reasons presidents normally respect those boundaries between the justice department and the career people of the justice department and political decisions of the white house. >> jason, let me give this to you because you've been here with me with chris christie. i thought it was striking you've got newt gingrich, chris christie, all the president's friends speaking to him the only way they know he'll see it on tv, stay out of law enforcement. >> well, and here's the thing. it not only affects morale, but it taints everything they want to do, right? when the president says, it's a muslim ban, it makes it difficult for the department of justice to argue in front of the supreme court no, this is about security. when the president says i want you to go after hillary clinton, i want to you go after this person or that, it taints what is supposed to be a neutral legal process. but the larger issue here is this. the president doesn't understand the law. he doesn't understand that 99% of what he wants to accomplish can be done quietly behind the scenes by chasing statutes and he doesn't have to make a

massive announcement on twitter. that's what makes everybody's job difficult. >> and the inability to criticize russia, this is what seems to be the straw that is visibly straining the backs of his own white house staff, h.r. mcmaster, sarah sanders looks more beleaguered behind the podium since thursday. do you think this is an unsustainable posture for the white house? >> it is to have all the intelligence chiefs in congress, right, talking about how they tried to influence our elections and the president says why aren't you investigating obama, blah, blah, blah. of course, you recall that when kind of last year the president accused president obama of wiretapping him, so when the president had done something perhaps to look into this meddling, he would probably have had trump out there criticizing him for it. i'm not sure how much longer we can sustain this. partly because there actually needs to be some kind of credible response to what is coming down the pike in 2018. so, forget 2016. they're coming for us again. there are russian bots and

activity after the florida shooting. this is what they do. and they're going to keep doing it unless somebody punch them in the nose. >> elise, i wondered this as we get ready to cover this event today at the white house. one thing he can do for all of these kids turned activist is to say i'm going to ask my allies in the media and online to stop smearing you, to stop accusing you of being actors, to stop calling this a hoax. these are people that also -- what they have in common, the people smearing the students from parkland, florida, with his base is that they're his supporters. these are some of the same voices that echoed his messages. >> it is highly unlikely donald trump would ever do that because i, quite frankly, showed historic restraint he hasn't lashed out at the children himself yet for their direct targeting of him. he has on so many other occasions attacked anyone who attacks him -- >> like david johnson.

>> exactly. i feel a daily struggle for this white house staff to impress upon the president how he cannot just use the power of his office to hammer into these young children who just experienced great trauma. >> i want to add we are at the point we're showing it doesn't show restraint for the president -- that's where we are as a country. whether the staff or department of skbrjustice department, that what makes this difference. >> not only is it a defining moment for the trump presidency, but john kelly as well. he's been completely unable to governor. kelly needs to say, mr. president, this movement is a really serious thing. if you don't get out in front of it, it will sweep you away. and i think he needs to make a grand bargain. he doesn't have -- he's not a prisoner of ideology. his base isn't going to go

anywhere. >> right. >> he has an opportunity to do a grand bargain on gun control that maybe only he could do, or at least make that argument. if you're john kelly and you should be making that argument, but i don't have any confidence that he is because i think kelly is politically out of his step. >> i want to add steve schmidt into the conversation. steve, i want you to speak to -- i watch these students all day long and this doesn't look like the gun debate in america. this doesn't look like post-columbine. this tragically doesn't look like post-newtown. this looks like the me too movement. this looks like the women's march. this looks like something bigger, and these activists, these are television and twitter savvy warriors, these student activists fighting for common sense gun reforms. i think donald trump and the nra have met their match. am i watching too much tv? >> no, i think it's a significant movement, nicolle. i think so for this reason.

a lot of these members of congress have fired an ar-15 and they've heard the loud sound of that weapon while firing it. but most of them haven't been on the receiving end of that sound, hearing live rounds being fired at them like these kids have. and so i think we have a generation of kids in this country who, frankly, feel hunted. that this was the 18th school shooting of the year, february 15th. it can happen anyplace, anywhere, any time. it will happen again. we've seen this for many, many years. and i think that you have a combination of the kids, but also of the parents who feel like every time they drop a kid off at school, they're playing this sick game of russian roulette. and, again, i think it's a much larger question that is being put to the country through the voices of these kids, which is what type of country do we want

to live in? >> steven, let me interrupt you and tell our viewers, the president walked into the room. we're going to keep talking. steve, i want you to answer now and we'll come back to you on the other end of this. the whole table is going to watch this together. what does the president need to achieve today? this is his -- barack obama after newtown, george w. bush at ground zero, bill clinton after oklahoma city. what does donald trump need to accomplish in the next 30 minutes? >> he needs to show empathy. he needs to show a human connection. these parents, these children, the survivors of these tragedies, i'm not sure that i've heard anybody in the debate come up with an answer of what do we do about this. and i certainly don't have the answers to that, but i wonder if we're going to see a president who can speak to that, talk about the fact that we have 300 million guns in the country. there are tens of millions of these weapons on the streets. we used to have millions of guns

in the country, but we didn't have these school shootings 30 years ago. what is happening? why is it happening? we have this contagion of violence breaking out, and i think there are many factors that contribute to it. of course, guns is one of it. and are we going to see the president in a few moments acknowledge that, of course, what everybody understands in the country, of course guns are part of this discussion, need to be part of this discussion as does mental health, as does the access point between mentally ill people, troubled people getting their hands on assault rifles on high-powered weaponry. >> steve, we're going to dip in and listen and we'll all be here on the other side. >> [ inaudible ]. the things that have happened here in america, if there is

something planned, it's going to be a great one. we're going to get america back on track with our parents, children, everybody involved. i want to ask you to extend your holy spirit to comfort us at this time. you said you would send him. we embrace him. you said where two or three are gathered in your name you are in the midst. so, holy spirit, we ask you to comfort the families. comfort every one of them. and even the families that are -- that didn't lose a loved one, but know, that were there at that time, comfort them also. father, i ask right now in the name of jesus christ, we just welcome you here in this room. in jesus' name we pray, amen. >> amen. >> thank you very much, pastor. i appreciate it. vice-president, i'd like you to say a few words. i'd like to introduce you to betsy devos who most of you know and met a while ago. mike, what do you have to say? >> first off, thank you,

mr. president. i want to thank the families from parkland, florida, who are here and assure you [ inaudible ]. and of the american people. as the president said last week, the american people are united with one heart [ inaudible ], but the president called this meeting for us as much to talk about what's happened in our country over the last 20 years [ inaudible ] and listening by learning, how to ensure this is the last time this ever happens. i along with the president are

deeply moved with the stories and are encouraged and candidly moved by the courage [ inaudible ]. what i want you to encourage you to do is tell us your stories. america is looking on. the president and entire administration, leaders around the country at every level are looking on. we want to hear your hearts today. i encourage you to be candid and be vulnerable and share with us not only your personal experience, but what it is that you would have us to do. and just know that as the president has already taken action, we'll be meeting in this very room in the coming days with governors from all 50 states to make school safety a top priority of this administration, across this country. the president and i want to hear from you all first, and so i

want to say thank you for coming. thank you for the courage of being willing to be here and share your hearts. from our family to your family, god bless you. >> thank you, mike. >> mr. president [ inaudible ]. many of you are raw and fresh. [ inaudible ] share your experience in front of the president and the world. no student, no parent, no teacher should ever have [ inaudible ]. my heart was broken. what happened last week shocks us. it angers us and it pains us. we are here to have an honest conversation about why this tragedy and too many others

before it happened and how we can work to find solutions. we are here to listen, to gain important perspective on ways to reduce violence and protect students. our hope is that by talking and by listening, we can make something that was unthinkably bad something good, and your loss and your trauma must never be in vain. so, thank you again for being here and let's get started. >> thank you very much, betsy. i just wanted to say before we begin, we are going to be very strong on background checks. we'll be doing strong background checks, very strong emphasis on the mental health of somebody, and we are going to do plenty of other things. again, next week the governors are coming in from most of the states and have a serious talk about what's going on with

school safety, very important. and we're going to cover every aspect of it. there are many ideas i have, there are many ideas other people have and we're going to go with the strongest ideas, most important ideas, ideas that are going to work and we're going to get them done. it's not going to be talk like it has been in the past. it's been going on too long, too many instances and we're going to get it done. so, again, i want to thank you all for being here. i'd like to hear your story. i'd also like to, if you have any suggestions for the future based on this horrible experience that you've gone through, i'd love to have those ideas. all right. how about you start. >> thank you, mr. president, for having me here. my name is julia cordova and i'm from stoneman douglas high school. i was there during the shooting and i'm a survivor. i want you guys all to emphasize

the point that i survived. i was lucky enough to come home from school unlike some of my other classmates and teachers. and it's very scary. and knowing that a lot of people did not have this opportunity to be here still is mind blowing and i'm just -- i feel like there is a lot to do and i really appreciate you, like, hosting me and what you're saying, i'm confident you'll do the right thing and i appreciate you looking at the bump stocks yesterday. that means it is definitely a step in the right direction and i think we can all agree on that. there is definitely a lot more to go, but i am just grateful we're here and we can workout something, maybe compromise on some solutions so this never -- no child, no person in this world will ever have to go through something so horrific and tragic and my thoughts and prayers are out to everyone

there, so thank you. >> my name is jonathan blank. i go to stoneman douglas, and i was actually in the second classroom that was shot at. in my mind as a kid, that should -- nothing that horrible should ever have to happen to you. and you can't even think about it. like, it doesn't even seem real still. everything seems fake. i can't even -- i don't even know what's going on. it's just crazy. everything happening, it's just so tragic. thank you for everything. you've done a great job and i like the direction that you're going in. thank you. >> my name is melissa blank. jonathan is my son. i'm a teacher at the middle school [ inaudible ].

to find out if my son was alive or not. i feel for all of you families. my heart is just broken for my whole community. we were coming together, i feel, for all the families who have lost, and i feel for the ones that are here because we now have almost the guilt i have, why not my child, which i feel bad saying i'm happy that he's here with me, but i feel so bad for all of you who have lost so many. and i'm just begging for change. we need a change. >> thank you. [ inaudible ]. >> do you mind, may i pass the

microphone back to my daughter? i think she has some nice solutions if that's okay with you. >> sure. >> thank you. >> hi. my name is carson, i'm a junior, and i was at marjory stoneman douglas at the time of the shooting. i know there are a lot of different solutions we can go through to help eradicate this issue, but one that stuck out to me was about all the drills and protocols that my teachers had to go through. they knew what to do once the code red for an active shooter was announced, but through research i found that only 32 states require drills. but of those 32 states, more than half of the counties do not go through the drills because they want to spend their resources toward something else. >> uh-huh. >> and i know that a bill was also passed that declared that each school has to go through one drill each month. but i know that my school, we go

through fire drills every month and we have not had our lockdown drill yet this year. and i think a change that will increase all the trainings and protocols, so if god forbid another shooting does happen, all the teachers will be prepared and can hopefully keep their students calm. >> that's good. thank you very much. thank you. please. >> my name is ariana kline. i would like to say thank you for leading this country. you're a great leader and i appreciate the direction the country is going in. i'm a junior, i attend stoneman douglas. and i just want to say that everybody right now is so stuck on what they believe that they're not even listening to what other people believe. we need to listen to other points of view. we all need to realize that we all have different points of views and that we need -- the solution is not going to be a

singular thing. it's going to be multifaceted and [ inaudible ]. by a collection of different people working together and we all have to realize that we all have our opinions, and together we're going to be able to work toward a solution. and this is not just parkland. this is america. this is every student and every city and everywhere. it's not small, it's everything. thank you for having us. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. a >> my name is fred. i'm going to pass the microphone along to other students. if we have a chance later on perhaps i'll speak and other parents will speak, but i'd like the students to have their chance. >> very nice. >> my name is justin river and i was at the school at the time of the massacre. i'm only 15 years old. i'm a sophomore. 19 years ago the first school shooting, columbine, at columbine high school happened,

and i was born into a world where i never got to experience safety and peace. there needs to be a significant change in this country because this has to never happen again. and people should be able to feel that when they go to school they can be safe. and because there needs to be a change -- i'm sorry. people need to feel safe and parents shouldn't have to go through the idea of losing their child. as i know for my dad, he was panicking and he couldn't imagine it. so, that shouldn't even be a possibility. that shouldn't go through a parent's mind. there needs to be some change. thank you. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> kerry, justin's dad. and i'll be brief.

you know, justin was texting me, hiding in a closet, saying if something happens, i love you. something happens, i love you. you can't imagine what that's like as a parent, and then his phone died and i didn't know what happened for another hour. so, 17 lives are gone. i was lucky enough to get my son home, but 17 families -- it's not left and right, it's not political. it's a hugh plman issue. people are dying and we have to stop this. if he's not old enough to buy a drink, to go and buy a beer, he should not be able to buy a gun at 18 years old. i mean, that's just a common sense. we have to do common sense. please, mr. trump, these are things we have to do. in israel, you have to be 27 years old to have a gun. you're only allowed one. they tax the guns. you have to go through significant training. we've got to do something about this.

we cannot have our children die. this is just heart breaking. please. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> hi, my name is shannon morris, i'm a local administrator for a school in d.c., and i really want to continue the conversation for our students. >> hi, my name is bialka mar kin son, i'm a local educator in washington, d.c. for a friendship public charter schools. so, i will allow our students that are here to voice their opinions as well as get some of their ideas to do that at this time. and my condolences and my heart truly go out to not just the families that have lost children in this horrific, horrific incident that has occurred, but also to our families here in the district of columbia that

experience gun violence outside of our schools that directly impact our schools because they are our students. >> thank you. >> hello. my name is ali aabar net and i go to the technology preparatory academy in the heart of southeast d.c. my condolences to every family here that experienced the shooting and all the students that experienced that. and i'm here on behalf of my school and all of the friendship schools in d.c. to be able to prevent those kind of things happening at our school because in southeast d.c., we do encounter a lot of violence and things. most of the time at night, but some -- a lot of times it's in the daytime, too. so, our schools, we do take preventive measures and everything to stop that. like, we check bags at the door and everything, and it does make

us -- at first we're like, no, we don't want to do this, but we realize it's for our safety. but we wanted to make sure that it continues and that nothing can ever slip up to -- for these things to happen, like, in school. counseling for our students who are struggling with fear and bullying. bullying triggers emotions that make a student want to bring a weapon to school to protect themselves or to get revenge for a person who did something to them. so, we just want to have a lot of preventive measures to be in the schools. and also outside of school to make sure that nothing can happen to us while in school. >> thank you. thank you very much. >> hello, mr. president. thank you for having us. i'm christine, mayor of the city

of parkland. we have a great city. [ applause ] >> it's in one of the safest cities in america. the fact that this happened in our city means it can happen anywhere. we are blessed that we are a very close-knit family oriented city, and our community is coming together. we lost 17 lives, but the ripple effects throughout the community are devastating. i have spent the last week going to funerals. friends of mine lost their children. we have to at some point care enough and be strong enough to come up with solutions. and i hope we will. and if i might, i had two parents who lost children this past week text me some of their thoughts if i might share them with you. >> yes. >> thank you. i spoke to jennifer and tony montalto. they just buried their daughter

gina yesterday. and their comments were, so, tony is an airline pilot and he said he supports the second amendment, but he does not believe there is a need for assault rifles. he also said that the fbi, there were signs missed and it reminded him of 9/11. so, we do have to work on making sure that our protocols are in place so that people don't slip through the cracks literally in this case. we also talked about the red flag laws. i think there is a little progress being made in florida now on the red flag laws, which is when somebody shows signs of hurting themselves or someone else, you can take their gun away from them. fred guttenberg, service for his daughter jamie was last week on friday. and he would like the administration to publicly acknowledge the role of guns.

now, these two parents talked about guns and they're -- there are lots of areas where there is room for improvement. from mental health, from teacher training. part of that also is the gun issue. so, it's not that it's just those and not the gun. it's all of them. and in the debate world, in the high school debate world, kids talk about when they bring up legislation, you want to have impacts. you're not bringing up legislation that doesn't have a positive impact. and what is the positive impact of having legislation that stops assault rifles? bans assault rifles? it could save a life. that needs to be a priority in any case. and when we talk about rights -- so, we have the right for free speech. but if free speech in any way endangers someone, it gets restricted. and i think -- i appreciate that we're coming here to listen and

i appreciate that we're coming here to look at all different perspectives because we need action and we need to be solution oriented. thank you. >> thank you. i appreciate it. >> we're here because my daughter has no voice. she was murdered last week and she was taken from us. shot nine times on the third floor. we as a country failed our children. this shouldn't happen. we go to the airport, i can't get on a plane with a bottle of water, but we leave it, some animal could walk into a school and shoot our children. it's just not right and we need to come together as a country and work on what's important. and that's protecting our

children in the schools. that's the only thing that matters right now. everyone has to come together and not think about disparate wars. we have to come together as a country. not different parties and figure out how we protect the schools. it's simple. it's not difficult. we protect airports. we protect concerts. stadiums. embassies. the department of education that i walked in today that has a security guard in the elevator. how do you think that makes me feel? in the elevator they got a security guard. i'm very angry that this happened because it keeps happening. 9/11 happened once and they fixed everything. how many schools, how many children have to get shot? it stops here with this administration and me. i'm not going to -- i'm not going to sleep until it's fixed.

and, mr. president, we're going to fix it because i'm gonna fix it. i'm not gonna rest. look, i want to see everyone. you guys look at this. me, i'm a man, but to see your children go through this, buried their sister. that's why i keep saying this. i want it to sink in, not forget about this. we can't forget about it. all the school shootings, it doesn't make sense. fix it. should have been one school shooting and we should have fixed it. and i'm pissed because my daughter i'm not going to see again. she's not here. she's not here. she's in whatever it is, king david cemetery.

that's where i go to see my kid now. and if it stops, we all work together and come up with the right idea and it's school safety. not about gun laws right now. that's another fight, another battle. let's fix the schools and then you guys can battle it out whatever you want. we need our children safe. monday, tomorrow, whatever day it is, your kids are going to go to school. you think everyone's kid is safe? i didn't think it was going to happen to me. if i knew that, i would have been at the school every day if i knew it was that dangerous. it's enough. get together, work with the president and fix the schools. that's it. no other discussions. security, whatever we have to do, get the right people, the consultants, these are a commodity. i'm never going to see my kid again. i want you all to know that. never, ever will i see my kid. that's how, i want it to sink in. my beautiful daughter, never going to see again. and it's simple.

we can fix it. this is my son. he had to deal with this, too. you have something to say, son? >> i just want to add that it's imperative to the safety of everyone to support free market and free flow of ideas and listen to people on -- listen to radical opinions on both sides and that's how we'll find solutions. you let people battle it out in a free flow of ideas. censor ship has got to stop and that's how we find the solutions, by listening to everyone. having an open mind. >> this is my son hunter.

>> [ inaudible ], marjory stoneman douglas. i walked the same hallways, never got shot. first off, i want to thank mr. president for having us. we had a very effective meeting before we walked in this room. mr. vice-president as well and madam secretary. i put all my trust in them and my father together that we'll be able to find a solution. that's all i have to say. thank you for having us. >> my name is sam. i'm a student from marjory stoneman douglas in parkland. and i just want to take a second first to thank you for having me, mr. president, mr. vice-president, madam secretary.

i was on the second floor in that building texting my mom, texting my dad, texting three of my brothers. and i was never going to see them again. and then it occurred to me that my 14-year-old brother was directly above me. in that classroom where scott beigel was murdered. scott beigel got my brother in class. he was the last kid to get back into that class. and i'm sure a lot of you have read my texts on the internet to my brother. i didn't plan for them to go viral. i just wanted to share with the world because no brothers or sisters or family members or

anyone should ever have to share those texts with anyone. and that's why i'm here. i lost a best friend, he was practically a brother, and i'm here to use my voice because i know he can't. and i know he's with me cheering me on to be strong, but it's hard. and to feel like this, it doesn't even feel like a week. time has stood still. to feel like this, ever, i can't -- i can't feel comfortable in my country knowing that people have, will have, ever going to feel like this. i want to feel safe at school, you know. senior year and junior year,

they're big years for me. when i turned my academics around, started connecting with teachers and i started actually enjoying school. and now i don't know how i'm ever going to step foot on ever step foot in that place again. or go to a public park after school or walk anywhere. me and my friends, we get scared when a car drives by. anywhere. and i think i agree with hunter and hook and how we need to let ideas flow and get the problem solved. i don't understand -- i turned 18 the day after, woke up to the news that my best friend was gone. and i don't understand why i could still go in a store and

buy a weapon of war, an a.r. i was reading today that a person 20 years old walked into a store and bought an ar-15 in five minutes with an expired i.d. how is it that easy to buy this type of weapon? how are we not stopping this after columbine and sandy hook. i'm sitting with a mother that lost her son. it is still happening. in australia that was a shooting at a school in 1999. and after that they took a lot of oird yeahs and they put legislation together -- ideas and put legislation together and they stopped it. can anyone here guess how many shootings there have been in the schools since then in australia? zero. we need to do something. and that is why we're here.

so let's be strong for the fallen who don't have a voice to speak any more and let's never let this happen again. please, please. >> mr. president, mr. vice president, madam secretary, my story is far too well-known. i had two sons who were at sandy hook school. my eldest who was eight at time survived and my 6-year-old son dylan did not. and i've been working tirelessly on this issue for over five years now. the organization that i helped lead sandy hook promise is focused on the keeping kids safe

at school because no parent should go through this. every parent who sends their kid to school should know without any question in their mind that they are going to be coming home that day. this is not a difficult issue. your absolutely right. there are solutions bd th-- and administration has the ability to put them in place. and after sandy hook they said we wouldn't let this happen again and yet it has continued to happen for five years. how many more deaths can we take as a country? how many more teenagers and 6 and 7-year-olds can we allow to die, don't let that happen any more on your watch. there are things you could do right now. mental health you mentioned, funding for that would be very much appreciated. the stop school violence act, enabling prevention programs and reporting systems in schools

across america already passed through the house and it is in the senate right now, urge swift passage of that to get help to schools. i absolutely agree since sandy hook there is an increase in school safety and security. we've invested a lot in the bricks and mortar of our schools and the security of our schools. i think we also need to focus on prevention. how do we prevent these acts from happening and how could we help identify and get help for people who are at risk of hurting themselves or others before they pick up any weapon. that is what we need to focus on. by preventing these acts and you have the ability to do that. there is legislation available to you right now. there are free training programs such as our know the signs programs available across the states right now, you could mandate these sorts of programs. you could ensure that schools, students and educators are trained how to recognize these signs and to know what to do when they see them and then to ensure that those tips are followed through.

this is not difficult. these deaths are preventible. and i implore you, consider your own children. you don't want to be me. no parent does. and you have the ability to make a difference and save lives today. please don't waste this. thank you. >> thank you. >> mr. president, vice president and mrs. devos, thank you for inviting my wife to be here today. i'm a little bit weak and i had surgery last week so i'm weak in voice and body. but 19 years ago i went through what some of the folks here went through now because my beautiful daughter rachel was killed and my son craig was in the library that day, two of his friends were murdered beside him. he laid there covered in their blood looking down the barrel of

two guns aimed at him. and he knew he was going to die. and in a split-second before eric and dylan pulled the trigger, the alarm system went off and it distracted them and they never came back to the table where craig was at or i would have lost two children that day at columbine. so my heart goes out to you, sir and to every one of you in this room that have experienced the trauma that you are going through at parkland. our focus has been -- my beautiful wife and those beautiful lady in the room is right there in the blue and white blouse, sandy. we started a program called rachel's challenge and it started a year after rachel died. and we have worked with some wonderful partners over the last few years. we work closely with chuck norris and his wife gina in a program they call kick start for kids. we work with bill rip -- cal ripken jr. and his brother bill called the uncommon athlete and

it is based on something my daughter wrote in one of her diaries and we partnered with dr. mark ozono one of the top researchers and in a program called why try and another program called love and logic, dr. jim fey, one of the largest parenting programs. all of us combine our efforts together. our organization has reached over 28 million students in the last 19 years. and we have seen seven school shootings prevented. we see an average of three suicides prevented every single week of the year, over 150 a year. i have a little book with me that i'd like to leave with you, it is got letters from students, we don't edit them. these are e-mails from students planning to commit suicide. and we see three of those every single week. students that have changed their minds. and if you don't mind, i just want to share one simple principle with you that we've learned over the years as we've

worked with millions and millions of young people and it comes from something you said last week in your speech and it was that we must create a culture of connectedness, we must create a culture in which our classmates become our friends. that is something we've learned how to do over the years. we have over 28 different programs and we see children connect with one another. every single one of the school shootings have been from young men who are disconnected and we talk about the mental health issue but it goes deeper than that. because there is a lot of mentally ill children that are kind and compassionate. and so we work with those children every single day of the year, of the school year. but there is always the one with the propensity to violence. and so one of the things that we have learned and we train young people and train teachers that the focus must not be just on unity or diversity, because if

you focus too much on diversity, you create division. if you focus too much on unity, you'll create compromise. but if you focus on relatedness and how we can re late with one another then you could celebrate the diversity and you could see the unity take place. i'm all for diversity and unity but the focus really needs to be on how can we connect and that is something that we in our organizations have learned, one thing we've learned is how to connect students with each other and themselves and with teachers and with parents. and i would love to share more as we have a chance to do so. thank you again for having us today. >> i appreciate that. this is an in he had kribl -- incredible group of people and we do appreciate it. and some of the folks in the back and my friends sitting back here, i would like to have you say a few words. we can learn a lot from you.

we want to learn everything we can learn. and we're going to go starting about two minutes after this meeting, we're going to work. this is a long-term situation that we have to solve. we'll solve it together. and you've gone through extraordinary pain and we don't want others to go through the kiebds of -- the kind of pain you've gone through. it wouldn't be right. so would you like to say something? >> thank you, mr. president. my name is curtisely, i represent thurgood martian academy here in the district of columbia. thank you vice president and madam secretary for having myself and gregory baldwin who represent thurgood marshall. my tragedy started september 20th of last year. i have two twi