shooting in parkland, florida, students returning to school today as a major retailer now decides to stand with the students, stop selling assault weapons. a move praised by a man who lost his teenage daughter. >> i am today actually 14 days out, i think, happier than i have been in 14 days because of what dick's sporting goods announced this morning. insecure. jared kushner is stripped of his top security clearclearance. what does that mean? >> jared has done an outstanding job. he has been tweet treated unfai. he works for nothing. nobody ever reports that. he gets zero. he doesn't get a salary. big little lies? former trump campaign manager paul manafort pleading not guilty today to dozens of new charges from robert mueller. also getting a trial date in september. while top white house aide hope hicks admits she tells white

lies for donald trump. in nine hours of questioning at the house intelligence committee. >> it was clear that the white house did not want initially hope hicks to testify about anything after the campaign. adopted the same position as with steve bannon. >> she won't invoking privilege. she wasn't answering questions with regard to her time in the white house or in the transition. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in new york. an emotional and kocourageous d for thousands of students returning to campus today just two weeks after the shooting that forever changed their lives. there are no classes this week, just time each morning for students and teachers to talk and try to deal with their grief. those gatherings ended a short time ago. we want to take to you parkland and talk to a history teacher. it's good to see you. i know this has been --

>> good to see you. >> how did today go? >> today was a roller coaster. i thought it would be a roller coaster. depending on each class, each one has its own personality, each student has personalities. some are talkative. some were very quiet. some were withdrawn. we had some artwork and things they could do that they wanted to do. they didn't want to speak to others. acted as if they were more than normal selves. you could see a difference. i will say this, almost all of my students were here. a couple of classes i had three students out maybe each class. i have normally 25 or so in each class. almost 90% or more of my students were here. the students were glad and happy to see each other for the most part. some you could see were quite withdrawn and quite -- even though they were there with the others, they weren't there.

>> how do you deal with that? were you trying to get them to talk with each other? speak out in class? how did you navigate the difficult day like today? >> i mean, we have had for some time now counselors, guidance professionals to advise us. when you get in there, it's almost play each kid, each class by ear so to speak. it's just our experience to know, just like any other time when you first start meeting a class, see what's right for that kid, let each of the students know in all the classes that no matter what they needed, that i was there for them, counselors. all they needed to do was let me know. we had therapy dogs in. all of the kids wanted the dogs. we had balls you could squeeze. i was giving those out. they were using those.

it's kind of -- each kid had to judge and gauge what was right for them. some are further along in the healing process. some have quite a ways to go. you have to kind of look at each kid individually almost as we do when we teach. no two kids learn alike. each is different. each will be different in healing. i will say again as far as broward county district, as far as our administration, our team, we're all pulling together. the kitd kids are there for ea other. the administration and district is there to help us with anything we need. the outpouring from around the country, around the world and both with vendors and suppliers, with food supplies, whatever we need, they have been making sure that we get it. all of us just want to perform at our best. we want to make sure we help each and every child and help each other. again, some of the teachers witnessed horrible things two weeks ago. >> how has the activism, the

protests, marches, has that helped in any kind of therapeutic way? >> i think that's helped. i think you have seen how our kids have been quite energized with that. i think it's given them something to focus on. i know some of us are quite, obviously, as individuals involved as far as our individual beliefs. i think as far as the kids, i think it's been very therapeutic. i will say that i have seen several of the students that have been extremely active today. i won't mention any names. one or two that you have seen that have been quite involved, i think they look physically drained today. another couple, they were energized. it depends with them. even the ones outspoken, very hard driven, today i did see many of those same kids, some of them, a couple in my room, but just walking through the building, walking through, you could see them at different stages.

some were extremely quiet. others were very excited. they were talking about going to washington and about different things that they were planning as far as moving forward. again, different states with them also about that. >> i want to ask how you are doing. >> i have good days and bad days. it depends. i see some of my teachers, co-workers that were within classes that lost kids. it's devastating to see them. they are devastated. we are devastated for them. again, i have lost a lot of sleep. i've lost probably 15 pounds since this occurred. i'm not exactly heavy here. don't have the 15 pounds to lose. i'm not sleeping. i wake up 30 times a night. this is even with me taking medication to help sleep. it's not working. hopefully, trying to take care of myself and seeing, you

know -- getting assistance also. but trying to eat better. the sleeping so far, that's not working too well right now. >> greg pitman, take care of yourself. the kids need you. >> thank you very much. >> you need to take care of yourself, too. thanks for talking to us on a difficult day. >> thank you. connecticut democratic senator chris murphy is co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill to enforce the national instant criminal background check system. he's attending a white house meeting with president trump later today to talk about gun violence and school safety. thank you very much. you have been a leader on this march since new town and perhaps before we all identified with you this subject. more than five years ago. at this time, is that good enough? chuck schumer said that your bill is not enough. should you be supporting that? should you be holding back and demanding a universal background check at least? >> well, the legislation i've

introduced is certainly not enough. the kids who have become activated all over the country, particularly from florida, are not going to settle for a piece of legislation that actually doesn't add one single background check to the existing system of gun sales in this country. all it does is try to make sure that people that are supposed to put information on the background check system do. the horror here is that the scenes you are seeing in parkland play out every single day in places like chicago and new orleans and baltimore. those kids are going through this massive trauma of something that happened to them now a week and a half ago. that happens every single night, every single friday and saturday in chicago. so we need to remember that this is an epidemic every single day in this country, not just when it captures the national attention when it occurs at a school or church or shopping

mall. it does not meet the outpouring of interests across this country in solving this problem. >> do you have -- what is your political strategy? you could pass this bipartisan bill. a lot of people could pat themselves on the back. the president and republican caucus and others in the democratic caucus who don't support stronger gun restrictions. this crisis will pass. >> right. i think what we want is to have a full debate on the floor of the senate. votes are changing right now. republicans that never entertaining voting for common sense gun laws are now considering doing so. my recommendation to senator mcconnell and senator cornen has been, put the bill on the floor and allow it to be amended. see if there are votes for background checks. see if the president is willing to help pass that. let's see if we can have

national scale protective orders to make sure that dangerous individuals have their guns taken away from them. i think it's important to have an open debate on senate floor to show the american people that we recognize the scope of this problem. then let's see how the votes play out. >> do you have that agreement from mitch mcconnell? >> we don't have that agreement yet. i'm hopeful the president is going to lead the way here. from what i understand, the president is still open to the idea of expanding background checks as part of this debate. i think that if the president comes out strongly in support of changes that the nra does not support, it will be hard for his allies in congress to say no. >> what about the fact that the president seemed to be backing off of what he had earlier discussed, raising the age for buying these weapons? before he had the unreported lunch, unscheduled lunch, was not revealed immediately with the nra on sunday. do you worry that he is backing

away from some of the things he talked about last week? >> i worry. i worry in general that, well, the republican party seems to be flirting with finally breaking the vice-like grip on it, that the gun industry has had. they may not be willing to actually cross that rubicon. this has been a decade long relationship in which the gun lobby controls the republican party. the republican party realizes there may be a big price to pay in 2018 if they don't start voting against the gun lobby. that's a big break to make. that's i think you are seeing that tension play out as the president flirts with going against the gun lobby and then just as quickly pulls back that notion. >> i know dick's sporting goods has decided not to sell these weapons. there's a lot of pressure also on other businesses.

delta airlines canceled an agreement with the nra, one of their retail agreements and was attacked by the lieutenant governor of georgia where delta is headquartered and threatened with tax penalties by the lieutenant governor for taking the stand against the nra. >> delta and united and hertz and other companies, dick's, they're doing this because they are responding to their customers. certainly, they're going to get backlash from nra supporters. they are responding to a customer desire to see companies be responsible or this issue of gun violence. nothing pulls as well as background checks. there's not another legislative proposal that enjoys 97% support. when the nra is opposing that, a lot of the companies are starting to think to themselves, boy, we should get out of the business of supporting a political organization that is arguing against the wishes of 97% of our customers.

i think you are going to continue to see businesses more and more of them respond to their customers instead of responding to a political organization. >> senator chris murphy, thank you so much. thanks for being with us today. >> thanks. up next, access denied. jared kushner downgraded from his top secret security clearance. can he continue to do his job in the oval? this is andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. e... ...my 3-month old business... plus...what if this happened again? i was given warfarin in the hospital, but wondered, was this the best treatment for me? so i made a point to talk to my doctor. he told me about eliquis. eliquis treats dvt and pe blood clots and reduces the risk of them happening again. not only does eliquis treat dvt and pe blood clots. eliquis also had significantly less major bleeding than the standard treatment. eliquis had both... ...and that turned around my thinking. don't stop eliquis unless your doctor tells you to. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding.

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the white house says jared kushner remains on the job today. former white house official saz without top security clearance, there's no way he can effectively continue his missions in china, mexico and negotiating middle east peace. "the washington post" is reporting there's growing concern that kushner had not reported his contacts with foreign governments who discussed privately amongst themselves they could manipulate the president's son-in-law. joining me is peter alexander. john mclaughlin, acting director and msnbc national security analyst. alen rosenstein and national security attorney at the justice department. first of all, to you, peter alexander, we assume that jared kushner is on the job today as they say. >> yeah. he is on the job. the question is whether he is able to do his job the way he

was. this vast portfolio that includes some sensitive topics, not the least of which is leading this administration, this president's effort to pursue peace between the israelis and palestinians. remember the president called him out and said if anyone can do it, i believe jared can. diplomacy with mexico and canada and china, trying to help oversee some of the trade deals taking place around the globe. with him, losing effectively this top secret clearance he had at an interim level, it means if it's to be executed as such, he wouldn't be able to attend a lot of the national security meetings, he wouldn't be there alongside the president to see the presidential daily briefing, which basically means according to the folks i'm talking to, near impossible for him to do his job. this is a cordi iaccording to m sources familiar with a white house memo that says that he, kushner, have been downgraded. we should note it's up to the president to decide what he wants to do. he could sort of go above this

and just basically give jared kushner whatever access he so chooses. officials tell me, that would be unprecedented. during my conversation with ivanka trump overseas a couple of days ago in south korea, i asked her whether there would be any double standard here, whether that would be appropriate for family members to be granted access as an exception to the rule. she basically said to me, we expect and will be treated like anybody else. >> peter, would we know? they have consistently said, sarah sanders said we don't discuss security clearance. would we know if the president granted a waiver to jared? >> we would not. we don't know. the president could declassify information by making it public. remember the conversation we had in the day about some of the secrets that he revealed during his visit with the russians when they came to the oval office as it related to a mission about israel back at the time? the bottom line is, we wouldn't know. i asked ivanka about this

specifically. she said it's white house policy not to talk about it. she said she would stick to that. >> of course, ivanka also has an interim clearance as far as we know. caroline, it's your reporting that jared kushner did not report to the white house as he should all of the contacts with foreign leaders. obviously, they were overheard, because they are carefully shadowed, these foreign diplomats were heard talking about him and how they could manipulate him. fill in the gaps there. >> that's right. sometimes people get these two things confused. jared kushner had a responsibility when he came into the administration, even though he was the president's son-in-law, to disclose hir foreign contacts before taking the job. in this instance, he appeared to be having solo meetings with foreign officials during transition and in the early days of the administration without letting the national security team know each time and this was learned by the national security

adviser who found it sort of surprising and disconcerting, because he was learning some of this through u.s. intel reports after the foreign officials privately discussed those meetings and what they took away from it. of course, the startling thing that we learned and published yesterday is that many of those private conversations involved foreign officials saying that they viewed jared kushner as an easy mark, someone they felt they could manipulate. >> john mclaughlin, you have been in such senior positions. you were running the cia, you were deputy cia director, life long veteran of intelligence. how is it sustainable for the national security adviser to not know that the president's son-in-law and top aide is having these meetings and then picking it up, obviously, on intercept? >> well, it's a very bad situation, andrea, because if someone is off having meetings like this with senior foreign

officials and you don't know that that's taking place and you don't know the content of those conversations, it makes it very hard for you as the national security adviser to go forward with policy not knowing whether this person who is off the reservation doing that may be contradicting what you are trying to achieve, maybe contradicting what you are telling senior officials in that government. this really runs counter to the primary job of the national security adviser which is to coordinate, orchestrate, get everyone on the sam page whe pa delicate problems. i think jared kushner has done everything wrong here in terms of that and also filling out his clearance papers inappropriately and also hauling around this giant debt, which is always a concern when there's no strategy for repaying it. that's a major concern in the clearance process. >> the fact that there's this

huge debt on 666 5th avenue that the family business has and including he and they were actively during the campaign year, at least if not during the transition, going to foreign governments, china, saudis and others to see if they would help finance that debt. >> in the clearance process, there are a couple of things that are always stumbling blocks. one of them is foreign contacts you don't report. everyone can forget one or two. apparently jared kushner has done this repeatedly, raising concerns. then the second big thing is if you have an enormous debt that you have no strategy for dealing with. it's fine to have debt. everyone has debt. as long as you have a strategy for dealing with it. if you don't, then it arguably leaves you open to influence by someone, if not blackmail, certainly influence. so i think he is hauling around these two -- at least these two major impediments to getting his

clearance, without which i don't see how he can do some of the things. >> nicole wallace, who has been in the white house as a senior adviser in the george w. bush white house, and also jeremy bash in senior positions at the a and pentagon, they both said there's a computer that would actually be taken out of his office, a computer under his desk, that he with only a secret clearance would basically be at the level of very low level white house officials, not the clearance we quire e required t assistant to the president. >> typically, this high level information called top secret compartmented information, is delivered on a separate server, a separate computer that is closed network in order to protect that information. i don't know how they are physically set up in the white house. it wouldn't surprise me if

something had to be removed leaving you with the internet plus whatever else could be delivered to you at a secret level. frankly, secret level is going to leave out the most critical things that are necessary. it's occurred to me as someone who used to brief people a lot that i wouldn't want to be the person trying to brief jared kushner on something like the middle east if he did not have a full clearance, particularly if there were other people in the room who had that clearance. these meetings are crucial to preparing someone for that kind of job. just one impediment if you don't have a full clearance. >> alen, i wanted to ask you about hope hicks. she testified yesterday for nine hours. she was at the house intelligence committee, not answering questions about current white house post-inaugural events and apparently there was conflict over transition as well. let me ask you when she said she told white lies for donald

trump. what red flag goes off for you? >> i think it depends the context in which they were told. i suspect she's not the only person in a presidential administration, this one or past, that have told white lies for the president. where that raises potential concerns is to whom she told those white lies. if she told those to federal investigators as part of an investigation, that's a problem. the statute that prohibits lying to federal investigators does not have an exception for white lies. you have to be fully honest. my understanding is that hope hicks consulted with her lawyers and she believes that she was fully candid with investigators. if that's true, then white lies that she may have told in other situations to other people would not necessarily raise legal concerns. a lot hinges on to whom she told those lies. at the end of the day, a lie is a lie, whether it's a minor white lie or major. >> peter, just circling back to you for a moment. you have a situation here with jared kushner where the national

security adviser and the chief of staff have taken on the son-in-law. how is this sustainable? >> it's a good question. i think that's what makes this dynamic so interesting right now. i think a lot of us when we knew the president said he would defer to john kelly to make a decision about the situation really thought at the end of the day that it was jared kushner and ivanka trump that would win out, so to speak. the president would side with his son-in-law and his daughter. at least for the most, it looks like john kelly, who was brought in to restore order, discipline and effectively to impose the standards that have existed in the past, may be winning the day for now. the question is, is this sustainable? where does this relationship go here? how can jared kushner do his work? the question we will be asking sarah sanders, how do we know when you are telling us white lies? >> fair point. something has to give. thank you all so very much. great reporting.

couldn't think of a better panel. thank you. this morning on the other part of pennsylvania avenue, washington saw hundreds of lawmakers joining president trump, the first lady, the vice-president, all honoring the life and legacy of the reverent billy graham. the fourth private citizen to lie in honor at the capitol. the first since rosa parks. r president trump paid tribute a while ago. >> the north carolina farm boy walked out of those fields into a great and beautiful history. we can only imagine the number of lives touched by the preaching and the prayers of billy graham. the hearts he changed, the sorrows he eased and the joy he brought to so many. the testimony is endless.

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have you been directed to do so given the strategic threat

that faces the united states and the significant consequences you recognize already? >> no, i have not. >> you need direct authority of the president through the secretary of defense? >> to do some specific things. there are some things i have the authority and i am acting within that authority now. >> the director of the u.s. cyber command and the national security agency mike rogers telling jack reed that did he d not have specific authority from trump to disrupt russian hacking in the elections. sarah huckabee sanders dismissed the claims at her daily briefing. >> why not give him the authority? >> nobody is denying him the authority. we're looking at a number of different ways that we can put pressure. >> joining me now is jack reed who questioned admiral rogers yesterday. who is correct here, the admiral or press secretary? >> the admiral is correct. he needs the authority of the

president to conduct these operations. made it very clear in my questioning, not only in my initial questioning, but i went back to establish the fact, which i think is shocking, that russia is directing attacks as we speak against our electoral process, becoming bolder, becoming more aggressive. we have not and the president has not ordered any type of response. not just cyber response, but increased sa e ed sanctions or else. admiral made is very clear that he can make recommendations. he has certain limited authority. but to take -- to undertake this operation, he needs the president's order to do to. >> this replicates what you drew out of the fbi director, where you asked a similar question. he said the president had not given him any specific orders to go up against the russians on their continuing interference.

>> that's absolutely correct. throughout the intelligence community and law enforcement community, they are paralyzed. they have not been directed to counter what they are reporting publically. all of the intelligence agencies say the russians are engaged in undermining our elections. this is not 2016. this is not something that they are planning to do. they are doing it now. yet, there's been no response by the white house. ultimately, because of the sensitivity and because of the law, this has to be directed or approved by the president. >> they keep telling us that homeland security is meeting with individual states, things are being done. i have been told repeatedly that there has been no meeting led by the president at the national security council level to direct an inter-agency response. is that your understanding as well? >> i have no specific knowledge. it would be consistent with all of the responses i have received

from -- that there's no direction by the president. in fact, i asked admiral rogers if he had given a recommendation to the president. he basically said, i communicated with him. but i don't think there's been a formalized meeting -- again, this is conjecture -- where this issue has been presented to the president and a request has been made to make a decision. the president has indicated he does not want to be in that situation. >> i want to ask you about something they announced yesterday, the digital operation for the 2016 trump campaign. what does that tell you? he has been questioned by mueller about the digital campaign. the dark side, about what he was doing with facebook. and when a former clinton official said you gaslighted her

online and he answered, question, you didn't even see it coming. he acknowledged being very close to these russian bots and some other things. has he not? >> it raises very serious questions. because of his involvement in the 2016 campaign, because of the fact that one of the major ways in which the russians interfered was through electronic platforms. it just is very disconcerting that the president would -- to me at least would turn to that individual. the other factor is this is early to be thinking about a 2020 campaign. i would think he would be focused on the 2018 campaign. so this is a curious development not only personality but the timing and announcement. >> someone who doesn't have experience running a campaign. thank you very much. it's good to see you, senator. thanks for being with us. coming up, hot seat. why a new dining room set is

getting ben carson in a lot of trouble. we will explain in the inside scoop. stay with us. you are watchi ining andrea mitl reports on msnbc. ♪ (shrieks in terror) (heavy breathing and snorting) no, no. the running of the bulldogs? surprising. what's not surprising? how much money aleia saved by switching to geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. when it comes to strong bones, are you on the right path? we have postmenopausal osteoporosis and a high risk for fracture, so with our doctors we chose prolia® to help make our bones stronger. only prolia® helps strengthen bones by stopping cells that damage them with 1 shot every 6 months. do not take prolia® if you have low blood calcium, are pregnant, are allergic to it, or take xgeva®.

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if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. today's senior living communities have never been better, with amazing amenities like movie theaters, exercise rooms and swimming pools, public cafes, bars and bistros even pet care services. and there's never been an easier way to get great advice. a place for mom is a free service that pairs you with a local advisor to help you sort through your options and find a perfect place. a place for mom. you know your family we know senior living. together we'll make the right choice. housing and urban development secretary ben carson is in trouble. federal records show that carson's office spent more than 31,000 taxpayer dollars on a new dining room set. that's above the allotted $5,000

budget for the items. the request came from his wife. according to a complaint filed by a department staffer to a federal whistle-blower agency. mrs. carson pressured her to find the funds to renovate the office. the guardian is reporting that he spent more money on what is described as lounge furniture. not sure what that is for. this comes as the administration proposes cuts to hud. let's get the scoop on this from eugene robinson, opinion writer and nick. "the new york times" breaking the story about carson's spending, his decorating expenses. in an administration where they have had problems with secretary zinke and his travels, for spending money on travel, does this seen get noticed? >> it should. >> it should get noticed.

>> think of the pattern here. zinke, price when he was around, pruitt. demanding security details in excess of their needs. >> veteran affairs secretary. >> taking a plane down to watch the eclipse. now we have this. there is something a little entitled about it. it's hard to know what's going on in their heads. it feels as if there's a failure to distinguish between the taxpayer resources and their own personal lives and needs. >> eugene, does this fit with sort of drain the swamp campaign slogan for trump world? >> hardly. $31,000 for a furniture suite, obviously we could do better at ikea. there are reports there was substantially more money spent. in a sense, it's not so much the money as the fact that ben

carson, who i know and who i'm sure you know as a brilliant neurosurgeon, is the secretary of housing. he has no experience in housing. i think it reflects what his concerns were coming into the office, which seem to have been more his sort of comfort. sure, maybe the office needed to be freshened up. but he is in charge of housing. that's really the fundamental problem of this administration. he had no experience in government. so, of course, he didn't -- when you don't follow the rules, people report you. they might have figured that they could skirt the rules and nobody would care. people do care. he doesn't understand that. what else does he not understand about the job he is supposed to be doing? >> the budget cuts throughout the government, i mean, we see

more than 30% at the state department and how the effect that has had. the food stamp proposals, the proposal throughout the government in agriculture, in hud and labor and education, interior. nick, that's where this doesn't ring true. >> look, if you are a conservative and believe the programs are too big or the government's role is different from that, that's fine. you should mind your own house as well. something looks pretty awful when you are cutting funds that literally feed poor people. then you are resigning your office suite at your wife's insai insisten insistence. she's not a government official. she doesn't have any role in the government. she's a spouse. she shouldn't be involved in that decision. >> in fact, there is a record of spouses being involved in decorating choices, raising private funds in the past. treasury secretaries and others

have had their spouses come in in the treasury building and i remember nick brady's wife, a woman who came in and preserved all of the antique qualities of alexander hamilton's office. >> that's right. and carson would not have had any authority to intervene had it not been for -- without the permission of dr. carson. it comes back to him. it's not unprecedented for secretaries to have their spouses involved in making choices like that. it's not unprecedented to come into an office that hasn't been freshened up in many years and say, you know, let's make it look a little nicer. this is certainly on the extreme end of that. for a housing secretary who at one point said, you know, we have to be careful not to make

sub siddi subsidized housing too comfortable. for somebody whose attitude is that about public housing, this looked really bad. the optics are awful. >> i want to ask you both if we can in the last minute here, the president is tweeting again about his attorney general. why is jeff sessions asking the inspector general to investigate potentially massive fisa abuse. will take forever. has no prosecutorial power and late with reports on comey. why in the use justice department lawyers? nick and eugene, just very quickly, eugene, to you, what is this deal where the president keeps beating up on his attorney general? >> right before we went on the air, i just saw that tweet. if my jaw was down here when we began, i apologize.

again, as a president criticizing as disgraceful his own attorney general in a tweet for a decision that he has made that seemed perfectly reasonable and certainly co lly comports w sessions' notion about the serious allegations about abuse. i have never seen anything like this. you have never seen anything like this. the president wants every official to aid and abet his telling of his story of obama abuses and trump innocence. anybody who is not on that train, he will slam. >> we should basically just point out that he is channelling what he has just seen on fox news. >> look, there's a telephone. it's possible to call your ag and talk to your ag. the fact that he is doing is publically, it's meant to pub public pressure on sessions. >> we will leave it there.

nick, eugene, thank you both so much. shock therapy. the saudi royal family taking steps to modernize the kingdom. at what cost? you are watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. your top-rated thing. that five stars, two thumbs up, 12-out-of-10, would recommend thing. because if you only want the best thing, you get the #1 thing. directv is rated #1 in customer satisfaction over cable. switch now and get a $200 reward card. more for your thing. that's our thing. call 1.800.directv was a success for lastchoicehotels.comign badda book. badda boom. this year, we're taking it up a notch.

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big changes in saudi arabia where the crown prince is describing his new reform program as shock therapy. trying to modernize the cultural and economic life. just this week the 32-year-old crown prince acknowledged a major shakeup in the military and appointed a woman to a cabinet ministry. joining me is a member of the saudi royal family. she's the executive vice president of the the saudi sports authority and leader in the move for agendagender equal there. tell me about the changes regarding women in the kingdom. >> thank you for having me. as you just mentioned, we have a senior lady that's just been appointed to a government position in cabinet. the changes that are happening for women in my nation are not just happening at that senior level. they are happening across the board. we are working hard to expand

the viability of career options for women. specifically within the creative industries talking about sports, entertainment, culture. but what we're also doing is creating the opportunity for mobility. that's where the women's driving comes on board. it's great to create jobs, but if the woman can't get there, it puts them at a disservice. the changes in my country that people seem to ask whew are you doing this, why is this happening now and the reason is because now is the time. we would like to be engaged globally. we'd like to be engaged locally and we have to chaung the focus of our focus from oil to the greatest resource, which is is the people. >> and there are other major challenges. you have the continuing war in yemen. he's visiting here and has a close relationship with president trump. what are do you see as the major economic challenges facing the kingdom. >> the major streconomic challe

is training our youth to participate in this new economy coming about. the strategic plans are to expand these opportunities, but if you don't have the human capital to join in, that's where the challenge comes. that's specifically whoo i was talking about the training we're drifr delivering for our nation. i can speak to you from the sports authority the opportunities we created in collaboration with the ministry of labor are 25 new streams of jobs. where mapping the direct and indirect job opportunities within this sports economy and frankly speaking by t2030 we'll be up to 250,000 new jobs in the sports sector. if you could please apply that to the newer sectors coming about, culture and entertainment, but also in the revival of the various other opportunities. we are talking about a dream that today is actually a reality. you can find innovation in my country. you can find job opportunities. in sectors that previously weren't even available for young men, let alone for young women.

>> to be continued. i look forward to more conversations. thank you for joining us. >> it's very much appreciated. more ahead. get an extra day by the pool get to spend more time together get more from your spring break getaway with exclusive hilton offers. book yours, only at hilton.com

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and thanks for being with us. remember follow us online on facebook and on twitter. crikristen kel ker is up next. hi, kristen. >> good to see you. good afternoon from washington,

d.c. access denied, president trump's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner stripped of his access to classified informat n information. what does this mean for his future at the white house? and white lies, white house communications director hope hicks admits to telling white lies in her role for the president. we'll talk to a lawmaker who was in the room for hez testimony. one of the sporting goods stores announces tougher restrictions inchuding the end of the sale of assault weapons. how will the nra respond. we start with jared kushner's future at the white house on a day that his father-in-law spent remembering pilly graham. kushner's family ties is the only thing that stands between had him and a severely diminished role at kmowhite hou. kushner and other white house staff found out friday their interim access to the most clhe