years to grow out his dreadlocks. he shaved them off for his daughter, who is battling cancer. take a look. >> can i turn around? >> this is the moment he surprised her. then he says -- >> you are beautiful. >> you are beautiful. all the love of a father and daughter. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. reach me on twitter and instagram. watch highlights from today's show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," former president trump playing to his political base, defiantly

acknowledging he took those documents and claiming he had every right to take them. >> under the presidential records act, which is civil, not criminal, i had every right to have these documents. in other words, whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. it's an absolute right. this is the law. >> independent legal experts say that's not true. it could hurt him at a trial. is he betting on an election victory for republicans and getting the case dropped? i will speak to former top cia attorney jeff smith about the legal strategy. are more republican politicians, including some rivals, now willing to criticize donald trump's handling of national secrets? >> the handling of classified materials is a very serious matter. i had a chance to review the indictment over the weekend. this indictment contains serious charges. i can't defend what is alleged. the former president has a right

to his day in court. i know he pled not guilty. >> i will be joined by republican presidential candidate asa hutchinson, who is clam slamming calls to pardon trump as offensive. as the federal reserve meets today, how will today's likely pause in interest rate hikes affect your pocketbook? good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. former president trump making a calculated decision apparently to focus on campaign politics, according to an inside source. knowing he is facing long and uncertain legal battles ahead and is bracing for the possibility of more indictments ahead. the washington, d.c. january 6 grand jury was meeting yesterday in washington while mr. trump was being arraigned in miami. an indication that special counsel jack smith is moving full speed ahead.

even as the arraignment was taking place in miami, a judge in new york granted e. jean carroll's application to expand her defamation case against the former president to include his recent remarks about her. a source telling nbc, there is frustration from some inside trump world over the former president's decision making with classified documents and whether all the investigations and the charges may be too much for many republican voters, despite trump's current power in the polls. joining me now, garrett haake in new jersey, former u.s. attorney paul charlton and brendan buck, former senior aid to paul ryan. garrett, you were in the courtroom. you saw donald trump. you saw jack smith. how closely they were sitting near each other in the courtroom. talk to me about what you saw. what were their demeanors? >> reporter: the two antagonists were only 20 feet apart across

the aisle in the courtroom from each other yesterday. it was very interesting. smith watched trump very closely. he would periodically look over, kind of keeping an eye on trump's demeanor. he made sure to watch donald trump as he was leaving the courtroom at the conclusion. trump must have known that smith was in the room or at least had no interest in looking in the prosecutor's direction for the entirety of the hearing. he never looked over his left shoulder where he would have seen jack smith. as he was getting up, glanced around to see who he might have known on the defense side of the room but never looked across at smith. after all the -- i would say back and forth, but just one-way from donald trump against smith, that dynamic felt notable. trump picking up where he left off before going in for his arraignment, attacking smith last night. here is what he said in bedminster in his end of the day speech last night.

>> the prosecutor in the case, i will call our case, is a thug. i have named him deranged jack smith. his record is absolutely atrocious. he does political hit jobs. you take a look at this guy. he looks like a thug. he is a raging and uncontrolled trump hater, as is his wife. >> reporter: i gotta tell you, the jack smith i saw in the courtroom did not look deranged. he looked in control. that was his room, after donald trump and his attorneys left, he went up to the prosecution table, threw an arm around the attorney and patting him on the back. the back and forth and the contrast in demeanor and personalities between these two men is going to be a very interesting thing to see develop over the next several months. >> as you have been reporting, as we have been broadcasting, of course, since the indictment,

and since the unsealing of the indictment, he has been absolutely really tough and explicit in attacking jack smith, attacking his wife, calling him names. that certainly is the backdrop here. paul, you heard the former president saying he had every right to have those documents, closed quote. explain the legal problems you see with that argument and how incriminating it could be at a trial. it's all admissible. >> everything that former president trump says is going to be admissible. if you want to know just how incorrect, what a poor reading of the law that is, all you have do is listen to former president trump's former attorney general bill barr who says it's hogwash to think when the president -- former president took classified documents out of the white house, that they are somehow his and lawfully in his possession. they are not. bill barr is right in his reading of the law. former president trump clearly

is not. it simply shows that dichotomy between what he might show his political supporters and what his lawyers may argue in court. andrea, if i may, may i add how much i enjoyed hearing garrett's description of jack smith in the courtroom? prosecutors are taught from the very beginning of their careers to professionally but to firmly take control of the courtroom. when the defendant is present and else in front of a jury -- i know we are not there now -- but point to the defendant. make sure everybody understands that the prosecutor has eyes on the defendant and is comfortable with the case he is bringing. to call this man a thug is inappropriate and puts his life and the life of his family at risk. >> which is, of course, what donald trump did. brendan, a source close to trump telling nbc that there is political gain here for the former president, with the other 2024 candidates getting no oxygen, nobody is listening to

them, while he is on the stage in bedminster or we're all covering the arraignment in miami. speaker mccarthy and house conservatives continue coming to his defense. >> you are right. donald trump blocked out the sun. we talk about him constantly. he controls the conversation. that's always been one of the challenges for anybody running against him. how do you capture people's attention? how do you elevate yourself? you saw that he went to the cuban restaurant after the arraignment. he is like elvis to a lot of republican voters. that's a hard thing to overcome. i guess what i would offer to some of the candidates is a great place to insert yourself would be in one of the biggest stories in recent american history. this is an opportunity to assert yourself and challenge the president -- former president and show that you actually are one of his rivals. we're starting to see more of that. but you have to question some of these people who say they are running against donald trump who find no opportunity here to even

criticize him on it. there are a lot of reasons you run for president. some of them aren't to win. i wonder whether some of the people have other goals in mind. we're starting to see more of that. that's hopefully encouraging they will be able to try to hold him accountable and insert themselves into the conversation. >> paul, let's look ahead. one of the things that came out of yesterday's arraignment is walt nauta, the co-defendant, he is supposed to not discuss with donald trump the case. he was with him coming to the court, leaving from the court, going to bedminster, stopping at that versailles, the famous cuban restaurant in miami and every step of the way. he is still working for him as his personal valet, packing his suitcase. how are they supposed to not discuss the case? how can we be sure they haven't already? >> i don't know that we can.

that order says they are not to discuss the case. they are in close proximity with each other. we can be certain that former president trump is going to continue his embrace of mr. nauta in a hope he will not change his position and roll up on former president trump as a cooperative witness. even if you assume that those two individuals, nauta and trump, would adhere to the judge's order not to discuss this case, what could happen, lawfully happen and ethically happen is that their individual lawyers could speak with each other about the case, and that information could be disseminated to former president trump and mr. nauta. what is extraordinary here is that mr. nauta apparently has yet to get a lawyer. that is, in my mind, an inexcusable step when you appear for your first arraignment in federal court. >> he had previously had a lawyer being paid for by donald

trump. maybe after the indictment came down, that arraignment had to cease, is that possible? >> it's possible the actual -- i'm sorry. >> reporter: i was going to say, nauta did have a lawyer with him yesterday. not someone authorized to practice in front of the southern district of florida bar. he had the same lawyer with him who has been with him for the duration of this process in the courtroom yesterday. >> thanks for clarifying that. that means they have to work as a team. understood. thanks to all of you for starting us off. garrett, your coverage in miami and since is remarkable. thank you so much. i know there's a lot on you. >> reporter: thank you. the breaking point. the indictment of the former president giving his republican rivals and gop voters an opening to distance themselves from donald trump. are they going to take it? i will talk to one of the few 2024 republicans who is willing to take on the former president,

former arkansas governor, current republican presidential candidate, asa hutchinson joining me next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 60 seconds. don't go anywhere. this is msnbc. this is msnbc. the new #19 the pickleball club. who knew the subway series could get even better? me, i knew. maybe you should host a commercial then. sure, okay. subway series just keeps getting better. we really don't want people to think of feeding food like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's what dogs are supposed to be eating. ♪ lomita feed is 101 years old. when covid hit, we had some challenges. i heard about the payroll tax refund that allowed us to keep the people that have been here taking care of us. learn more at getrefunds.com. ♪♪ allergies don't have to be scary. (screaming)

defeat allergy headaches fast with new flonase headache and allergy relief! two pills relieve allergy headache pain? and the congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good! we are seeing cracks in the solid gop support for donald trump beginning to appear as more republican senators and presidential campaign challengers are starting to criticize tentatively his handling of classified documents. some candidates like mike pence, tim scott and nikki haley are criticizing the prosecution and still starting very tentatively taking issue with how defense documents were stored at mar-a-lago with the graphic photographs we saw in the indictment. nikki haley is saying he was reckless but at the same time she's speaking in favor of a potential pardon for him if he is convicted.

>> from the start, chris christie and asa hutchinson have been the most critical. joining me now is republican presidential candidate asa hutchinson. welcome very much. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> you have not hesitated. what is your reaction to nikki haley saying she would pardon him, already saying that? >> it surprises me. the pardon power of the president is so important to our justice system, but it is always considered after -- generally after a conviction or whenever this element of justice requires it. it shouldn't be part of a political campaign. that's the most important thing. it's wrong to be discussing a pardon when we have not gotten the facts out. that's not something that i think it should be discussed.

i'm opposed to it and part of the campaign for president. >> chris christie was on fox news today giving his reaction to some of what the other republican challengers have been saying, criticizing the prosecution. >> i don't think that most republicans support the conduct that's detailed in that indictment. it's reckless. it's harmful to american national security. it doesn't show the kind of judgment that you need to be an effective president. >> what's your reaction to that? in the polls it shows that republicans as a whole, 61% or more, are behind the president criticizing the justice department and the prosecutor. >> former president trump has a powerful voice. he is using that. people are following that. we need to have other leaders that step up and make it clear that these are very serious allegations, that the republican

doesn't tolerate misuse of classified information. we take these allegations seriously. obviously, he is entitled to presumption of innocence. don't undermine the criminal justice system and the importance of what's happening here in the equal application of the law. this is going to be a difficult 18 months that's ahead of us between now and the election. we don't even know whether this is going to be resolved before then. there's going to have to be patience. i'm running for president because i think we need to have a commander in chief that protects the highest secrets of our land and doesn't treat them cavalierly. i'm glad there's more republican leaders that are speaking out now and saying this is serious. i hope that they continue to do that. >> most are not running for president. most are now in the senate and not in the house. as this field has expanded, with more people jumping in, does that just help renominate and

potentially re-elect donald trump? should you and the others who are against donald trump, should you decide on who a prime challenger should be and so those of you not polling well drop out of the race? >> if you picked a prime challenger right now, then all the energy of donald trump would be focused on that one. i think it's very important that the voters in iowa and new hampshire have a voice as well as we move down to south carolina. let's let the voters dictate who is going to be the republican nominee. i don't think it's going to be donald trump. i think the fact that there's more candidates getting into the race right now demonstrate they see an opportunity and that we need to have new leadership in our party. over time, this will narrow. it's going to narrow through the voters but also there will be self-evaluation. if candidates aren't moving forward, i think there will be changes in that alignment so

that there will be the kind of competition that we need in the primary and alternatives to donald trump and somebody that can take on joe biden and bring in independent and suburban voters. that's the test. right now, donald trump is not going to be able to win in a november election. it's going to get worse before it gets better. i think that's going to be the debate. we're right in the mix of this. looking forward to the campaign. >> does someone have to -- someone like ron desantis, who is the only right now in the polling at least, the only credible challenger who might be able to narrow the gap, but has not at all criticized him for his handling of the classified records, does someone have to challenge desantis on these issues that are the core of republicanism for most of the republican party's existence? national security, strong defense, keeping national secrets. >> every candidate is going to have to speak out on this. this will be part of the debate that i'm looking forward to.

we don't know where president trump will be at that time. you are going to have a lot of great voices in that debate. i'm going to be there. i will be talking about the importance of our national security. >> can you get on the debate stage? that's a high bar in terms of polling at 1% plus 40,000 individual donors. >> sure, it's a challenge. we made the threshold for the polling. everybody can go to asa2024.com. that helps us get on the debate stage. even a dollar helps us. we will make it. we have until august to do it. we are working hard to get there. it's important for the candidates to be on that debate stage to showcase that there's more than the trump indictment that ought to be covered in this. it ought to be about the challenges that the folks in new hampshire are having with the cost of heating oil, inflation, higher interest rates. >> to that point, we are told

that the trump people feel a success yesterday because at least he was able to overshadow all of the rest of you. nobody is talking about anything but him. >> that's true. i hope that you don't have to get indicted in order to get news coverage. i know that that's not the case. but we are anxious for the debate, because there's so many important issues. that's why i have said, donald trump ought to step aside. i understand he is not going to do that. if you value the discussion of the issues, if you value the presidency and our country, let's not get sidetracked for the next 18 months on the defense of a significant criminal case that is going to ensnarl the candidates in a side issue that is not helpful to the voters in looking at the future of our country. >> governor, thank you very much. stay safe out there on the campaign trail. >> thank you. good to be with you.

blinded by the right. donald trump says he had every right to take classified documents back to his florida resort. up next, we will take a look at whether that legal argument can hold up in court. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. are you tired of clean clothes that just don't smell clean? downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks, make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ( ♪♪ )

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why did he keep the documents? because he liked to say, i've got it and you don't. because he thought it would be cool. because it just struck his fancy on any given day. >> donald trump's former national security advisor john bolton reacting tuesday here on msnbc. trump continues to insist he has the right to the classified documents citing the presidential documents act. does he? joining me is an expert on this, jeff smith, former general counsel for the cia and an attorney who specialized in the laws around classification, serving in the pentagon and state department. it's good to see you again. thank you so much. does the former president have the right under the presidential

records act to take whatever he wants? >> no. absolutely not. the law is crystal clear. the presidential records act, adopted after president nixon, is very clear that when the moment the president leaves office, the things that are presidential papers, government property, are not his. these papers are no more his than air force 1 is his. especially state secrets. they are government secrets. they are not trump secrets. >> if he declassified something when he was in the white house, does that give him any special powers over those documents as he leaves? >> if he declassified them properly and it was recorded so that everybody knows it's been declassified, it would be part of his copy of the document part of his records that he could take with him. >> the fact is, as he claims he declassified things because he had an automatic power over that

when he would go upstairs and take them with him, there's a process, because you can't declassify -- if a president declassifies something and no one else pointing out, so there's a record that's kept. >> it's tightly controlled. when you think about it, it makes no sense the president can just decide mentally that i declassified this. that's no more valid than admiral poindexter saying that reagan authorized the contra affair. point point poindexter was convicted. the former president is wrong. >> some lawyers last night were suggesting on air that his admission in his bedminster speech, i took them and i had the right to take them, and he said as well he took them because he likes to read these

things and he was very busy when he was president and hadn't finished reading all of them, that is -- that was described by andrew weissmann was a confession. >> i think it is. he has made any number of statements that the special prosecutor -- the special counsel has on the record that are going to put him in deep, deep jeopardy, because he really mine, i can't declassify them. i think he is in real trouble. >> what about the what aboutism, which is to say, hillary did it and so and so did it, joe biden did it when he was a senator, all of those, especially the hillary emails? >> it's nuts. the difference is profound. in those cases, as in other cases where people are -- realize they have classified information, they turn it over right away. the problem here is that there

is -- trump has demonstrated his intent to keep them after having been told repeatedly and getting a subpoena, he has shown the intent he wants to keep them in direct contradiction of the law. >> jeffrey smith, you know the law better than anyone. thank you very much. we really appreciate you being here. >> thank you. shark tank. the former president's 2024 rivals starting to circle as donald trump finds himself treading water. a new wave of legal woes. this is "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. hell reports" only on msnbc she is 1 of 1." with new olay hyaluronic body wash 95% of women had visibly-better skin. "my skin is so much more moisturized." see the difference with olay. the sleep number climate360 smart bed is the only smart bed in the world that actively cools, warms, and effortlessly responds to both of you "my skin is so much more moisturized." for up to 44 minutes more restful sleep per night. save $1,500 on the sleep number climate360 smart bed. shop now only at sleep number. - this is our premium platinum coverage map

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the detailed indictment of donald trump causing more panic and pressure inside the war rooms of his challengers, than they are letting on. new reporting finding that many campaign insiders and backers are privately acknowledging, donald trump's legal woes are serious and could plague the party. one desantis operative saying -- joining me now is ali vitali, susan page and eugene scott. ali, this morning vice president pence went back as far as he seems willing to go publically in condemning the president.

here is a clip from cnbc. >> the very prospect that what is alleged here took place, creating an opportunity where highly sensitive classified material could have fallen into the wrong hands even inadvertently, that jeopardizes our national security, it puts at risk the men and women of the armed forces. at the end of the day, i can't -- i just can't -- i can't believe that politics didn't play some role here. >> politics didn't play some role here, okay. is that mixed messaging going to be enough to satisfy gop donors who are worried about trump? >> reporter: nothing is actually going to assuage those donors until someone proves they can actually beat trump, which means you gotta wait until at least iowa and then to go through the primary calendar. for all of the donors that are concerned about trump, both because they don't like him but

also because they have concerns about whether or not he can win, they just want to see a challenger who can prove that they can beat him. no one can prove that at this point. there is still that pressure that we are reporting from donors and other strategists within the party to go harder at the former president. i think what you are seeing from the former vice president, mike pence, is an interesting example of the way you can condemn the substance of the indictment, the keeping of classified documents, while also still being aware of the political landscape at play here, which is not going against the former president so much so that you over alienate his base. that's why you see him speak to the politics of the justice department. it tracks with what nikki haley said, that she would pardon the former president because it wouldn't be good for the country if he were to be convicted of these crimes. she's also engaged on the substance, saying that if he was actually found to be guilty of

keeping these documents as the indictment states, that this is something that shows that trump was in her words reckless with the classified documentation. herploying for the next year this weekend. he is speaking about it from that perspective as a military spouse as well as someone with her own experience handling classified documents as someone who worked as ambassador to the u.n. and other things in government. >> eugene, the president has told his people, do not speak about the indictment. somehow his wife seemed to have escape that verbal ban the other night at a political fund-raiser out west. whether accidentally or on purpose. the fact is, there's a vacuum here. the special prosecutor is not speaking except for his brief comments about the rule of law just last week. right now, the trump partisans and their backers, the house members, the speaker of the

house, they are filling that vac vacuum. >> i think part of the thought behind what the president communicated was that maybe if they give trump enough rope, he would hang himself. in some ways, they are controlling narrative, especially when it comes to conservative media. i think it's worth noting that democrats on the hill have taken to the messaging from the president and focused on the talking point that no one is above the law. in that way, they are using the message of the importance of law and order against trump, something he constantly campaigned on that is now working against him. >> it doesn't seem to be penetrating in the polls. susan senator thun did raise concerns about trump and the impact on down ballot races. this is audio from a hallway interview.

>> the senate is in a different posture than the house, which is a few -- just a few examples, they are really coming to his -- they are rallying around him. the senators, senator cornyn and others, certainly mitt romney from the beginning, but now some of the others as well, along with mitt romney. >> look at what's happening with republican voters. who knew being indicted could be an asset? the fact is, this indictment solidified trump's position in the polls for the republican nomination. i think it made it harder for his opponents to really take him

on in a serious way because that's where voertz are. this has been, i think, flummoxing that trump has managed to make himself the issue, take all the oxygen out of the room, fund-raise off this and actually made his prospect for winning the nomination i think stronger than they would have been before this set of indictments have been handed up. >> there was a poll finding that 83% of republicans think the elite class is targeting trump so he couldn't win. 58% don't believe he illegally took classified documents to mar-a-lago, even though he said himself he took the documents. how does whatever happens in the trial to come shake that hard core maga base? >> you know, trials are powerful things. the indictment itself indicates how strong the government's case

is, how much -- how detailed it is, based on people close to trump, not enemies of trump. we will see how that happens. a trial is some distance away. we don't expect this to be a speedy trial. it's a big issue, a complicated issue and because donald trump has a history of delay whether -- when it comes to legal action against him. it's true when you look at the watergate scandal, that the accumulation of evidence did persuade some to change their mind. >> ali, susan, eugene, thanks to all of you. the price you pay, how is the federal reserve going to frame its interest rate decision? what is it going to mean for you? that's coming next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. snbc ♪ ♪

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millions of americans are hoping the federal reserve skips another interest rate hike after more than a year of increases to combat persistent inflation, signaling a shift in policy boosted by improving economic data in recent months, when they announce their decision at 2:00 today, brian chung being joining me now. give us a preview of what we expect to see. it's expected that they will skip at least this month. but there's a lot of conflicting data that core inflation, for instance, that could give them pause going down the road as to how to proceed. >> yeah. essentially, the expectation is

for the first time in a year and a half the federal reserve is expected to not further raise interest rates. they have been trying to take inflation down. when you look at the rate of annual inflation, it went down from 9% in june last year to 4% in may of this year, as of the last reading we got yesterday in the morning. the federal reserve's target is closer to 2%. there are other ways to measure it. basically, the takeaway is as they get closer to the target, the fed can say, let's stop here, for now, see if there's the bite of the interest rate hikes that they have done can take it down to target. if we need to, continue to raise interest rates down the line. that's why fed officials are describing this as a potential skip where they just skip for the june meeting, maybe again in july and hike rates down the line if inflation seems to be sticky. that's what we will watch for in the fed commentary today. statement will come out at 2:00 along with economic projections for policymakers seeing further rate hikes or changes down the

line. but all ears on the commentary from the fed chair when he speaks to the press at 2:30 to see whether he will give us hints about how they are thinking about later this year. >> the other complicating factor besides inflation is the credit crunch and what's happening in the banking system and whether or not tightening credit could cause concerns about what's happened with the regional banks, makes it harder to make a decision on interest rates. >> it does. when we look at what happened, there was the silicon valley bank implosion in march follow by the signature bank collapse in new york. after that, there was hope that we saw the worst of it. then first republic out of san francisco went about a month later. there's a lot of concerns about whether or not we are out of the woods in terms of other banks experiencing similar issues. keep in mind, these were top 25 banks that went under during that credit crunch. whether or not the federal reserve sees anything as a major banking supervisor that could be something we expect the fed chair to face questions on if

they do see other concerns about other banks potentially going by the wayside as well, that could add a more complicating factor to how the fed will navigate what they see and hope is a soft landing as they continue to try to address high inflation while also keeping the unemployment rate relatively low. >> the key is, what is jay powell going to say? is this a stop, a pause? >> i think for the american people, a pause versus skip is probably largely the same thing. at least for the fed chair, he will say we will stop right here. if they follow through on not moving interest rates. depending what the others are mapping out, it could be difficult to message. we will see in a few hours. >> thank you very much, brian chung. we will be watching. house fight. the republicans pass a resolution to undo new tighter rules for handguns with accessories used at least in three recent mass shootings. a congresswoman joins me next.

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the republican controlled house has voted to overturn a key gun regulation that was put in place by president biden. in a mostly party line vote on tuesday, republicans repealed stricter federal regulations on pistol braces that attach to a shooter's arm to stabilize the firearm. these stabilizers were used in march by the nashville school shooter and ended up killing six -- allegedly killing six people including three 9-year-old children. the pistol braces were also used in mass shootings in dayton, ohio, and boulder, colorado. the senate is not likely to take up the house bill. president biden is vowing a veto, but joining me now is democratic congresswoman mikey sheryl of new jersey. this big bill was cosponsored by

a republican congressman who owns a gun store. why does the house move against these regulations? >> that is a great question. i'm a mother of four kids, and after we see mass shooting after mass shooting, when we see our kids being gunned down not just in their schools but in their neighborhoods, in cars, to think that we cannot act in this country to at a minimum take care of our children is really reprehensible. the gun industry is making millions off of these pistol braces. that might be one reason why you see such a lobbying effort by the nra to keep this in place. but really, to see that almost no republicans voted against this is still astounding to me, and they know it's wrong because i'll tell you they took the markup down in the wake of the nashville shooting, which resulted in 9-year-olds being killed by somebody with a pistol brace. so they know this is something that is killing our children,

and yet, they're continuing to move forward in this way. >> help me here, congresswoman, is there a claim that the president doesn't have the power to do this by executive authority? >> this is something, you know, regulating short barreled rifles, which is what these pistol braces turn pistols into basically, has been on the books since the 1930s. in the aftermath of gang shootings, they put this in place in the national firearms act because at that time in the '30s we were in this country able to meet some of the dangers of society with good legislation that protected our families and protected people in this country. and the fact that we are such an outlier that among all the nations in the world, we seem to be the only one that can't do minimal protections for our citizenry, especially our children, the number one cause of death of children under 18 years old is death by firearms. think about that for a minute.

that's really unacceptable, and the fact that we are seeing this consistent pushback not just to not implement basic protections like universal background checks, like an assault weapons ban, but to actually go further and take down regulations that are in place, you know, i just -- i really have no words. >> house democrats are now pushing for a vote to ban assault weapons. this doesn't have a chance, does it? what was your strategy here? >> you know, we are just going to continue to move forward to try to find those pathways, those places to go forward so that we can gather the support we need to pass this through congress, and while it may not pass today, it may not pass tomorrow, we are not going to stop because quite frankly, our children's futures are at stake. our children's lives are at stake. i'm a mom of four kids, and like so many parents in the aftermath of these shootings i walk my

elementary school kid to the bus stop, and as she boards the bus i'm thinking, dear god in heaven, what if i get a call today that something horrible has happened at her school. that's what parents are living with, and that's nothing compared to what children are living with as they're hiding under their desk, as they're spending hours locked down in their classroom because someone's seen a gun, so s.w.a.t. teams are clearing schools. this is no way to live. this is not acceptable in this country, and i and my colleagues will continue to fight to make sure we have better results going forward. >> and before i let you go, as a former federal prosecutor and a navy pilot in the service of our country, what do you make of the federal charges facing donald trump? >> you know, i have handled classified information when i was in the military. i had a top secret and secret compartmentalized information

clearance. i know how much of that information comes to be in the possession of the united states government. it's because people around the world put their own lives or the lives even of their families in danger reporting things because they're hoping to support us in our endeavor to promote freedom and democracy. they're supporting the united states of america with the understanding that we will utilize this information carefully, that we'll protect them, that we'll protect our sources so that we can do better in our fight for freedom and to see that a president of the united states treats this so callously, the lives of people so callously, and when given opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to do the right thing, to return this information, to make sure it was kept safe, refused to do so at every turn. you've heard from members of our military, they would have been court-martialed, i would have been court martialed.

he has been given more opportunities than the average american and yet refused. at that time there was really no other way to go forward here. especially given the fact that we suspect he may have more classified information that we're unaware of. >> congresswoman mikie. remember, follow the show online on facebook and on twitter @mitchellreports. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. donald trump has engaged in thousands of legallifetime, bute this. our new reporting on his state of mind as the reality of those federal charges sinks in. why he's going back to the same old playbook to fight this brand new legal threat and the new information in three other cases. plus, attorney general

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