to impose the death penalty, they have to find aggravating factors. some can be acting with a hate crime bias. particularly cruel method of death. some of the mitigate factors can be things like a person's history of abuse or addiction or mental illness. those are all things that a jury will consider in making its decision as to whether death is an appropriate penalty here. >> george and barbara, thank you so much for being with us this morning. that wraps up the hour for me. you can reach me on twitter and instagram. you can watch highlights from today's show online. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchel picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a pittsburgh jury has reached a verdict in the tree of life mass shooting. 11 members of the synagogue were

killed in 2018 in the deadliest attack on the jewish community in our nation's history. this hour, trump-appointed florida district judge aileen cannon issues her first order in the former president's classified documents case as trump ramps up his attacks on the justice department and calls again for the case to be thrown out. attorney general merrick garland making a major announcement after doj's review of the minneapolis police department in the aftermath of the death of george floyd. >> george floyd should be alive today. the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to george floyd possible. as one city leader told us, quote, these systemic issues didn't just occur on may 25, 2020. president biden will speak at an event in connecticut to tackle the rise in gun violence and will be joined by gaby

giffords. i will speak to chris murphy who will also be in attendance. hello and thank you for joining us. i'm ryan nobles in washington. andrea is on assignment. there's breaking news from a pittsburgh courtroom where a jury has just convicted the man accused of carrying out one of the most deadly anti-semitic attacks in american history. 11 worshipers were killed at the tree of life synagogue in october of 2018. six others were injured in the attack, including four responding police officers. robert bowers, the shooter who never denied his role in the attack, could face the death penalty. george, let's start with you. i understand the counts are now being read. 41 of the 63 counts have been read. so far, the suspect has been

declared guilty on all of them. update us on what's going on inside the courtroom. >> reporter: good afternoon. right now, the verdicts being read. we are going through count by count. it appears it is so far unanimous across the board guilty on counts one through 11, obstruction of the free efrm exercise of religious beliefs, causing body injury, these are all of the hate crime portion of the case. there's the gun related charges which he appears to be found guilty of. no surprise, many believe during the guilt phase, he would be found guilty. this comes after 11 days of testimony from the prosecution and defense. they said he went into the tree of life synagogue and meant to kill those 11 worshipers, meant to lay siege there on that fateful day and he injured the police officers, the jury --

excuse america the prosecution reminding the jury by showing photos, playing recordings of what went on. they used components of his social media saying he littered it with anti-semitic and white supremacist ideology. the defense always trying to raise questions about the intent and his motivation. they made no secret that he caried out this heinous attack. i'm going to quote. he feeling he had to -- it does appear during deliberations that the jury did have questions for the judge about some of the intent. it does appear some of that may have actually infiltrated the jury. overall, as we look at this coming in, it does appear the jury is finding him guilty on all of these counts during the

so-called guilt phase. one thing, during the rebuttal portion, the prosecution made note even though they heard the defense, they wanted to make it clear that because he did not go to an immigration camp, did not go to the border, he went to the tree of life synagogue on that day, and he killed those 11 worshipers, fired upon the officers, they wanted him to be taken at his word. there was no mistake this was carried out with the intent of harming and murdering those people. >> george, i think most of us are not necessarily surprised by this verdict. you have been in pittsburgh leading up to this day. was there still a sense of anxiety about what the outcome would be? is there a concern about the penalty phase of the case? >> reporter: this has gripped this community. i spoke with members of the congregation just yesterday when deliberations started. they don't say his name.

that's understandable. they say for us he will always be the shooter. it is hard for them to be in that courtroom looking at the man they know killed these 11 members of the congregation. but they are there in solidarity to support one another. as far as the death penalty portion of the case, as it moves into the death penalty, assuming all counts are guilty, some of them are saying, this is the just punishment, he deserves to die. others say that perhaps he is best going to be punished by spending the rest of his life in prison. that portion of the trial, the sentencing will take about six weeks. >> thank you so much. we are told up to 51 counts where he has been convicted. the vice president of the anti-defamation league on extremism joins us. how does it feel to see the jury convict him on these charges? >> there are no happy endings to

extremism and hate-motivated mass shootings. accountability is important. if this is one step in demonstraing there are consequences for hate, that violence will be dealt with, that the community, the jury will understand that, this does not represent the values of that community or this country, i think it does send an important message. >> talk to me about the penalty phase. as we heard from george, there's a split in the community, a split from the families of the victims as to whether or not the death penalty is the best remedy to this situation. you are talking about accountability. is the death penalty something that would demonstrate accountability to prevent something like this from happening again? >> yeah. i wouldn't want to speak for each member of the community. people have different feelings about the death penalty. some want to see it. others do not. it's a personal decision and opinion that people have.

we have to respect all of those decisions. i think the point -- the larger point is that a time of rising anti-semitism, where incidents have -- are reported every single day, a moment where people can see some sort of accountability, some guilty verdict, even though we don't know the sentencing, i think again will hopefully make people feel a little bit better. at the end of the day, people have to decide what the ultimate consequences are based on their own personal values. >> just tell me right now your overall feelings about what it is like to be jewish in america right now. do you feel things are getting better, or is this issue of the rise in anti-semitism still growing? >> overall, many in the jewish community continue to feel vulnerable. we are seeing record levels of anti-semitic incidents every day. that includes vandalism and harassment.

that includes assault. whether you are on social media looking at narratives there where anti-semitic tropes and other forms of hate are normalized, this is a moment that is a particularly vulnerable one for the jewish community. that's why when we are revis ith the pain in a community like pittsburgh all these years later, seeing that somebody is going to be held accountable for what they did offers a little bit of solace. the reality is, i did not think that five years after a shooting in pittsburgh that we would be seeing record high levels of anti-semitism. that means there's a lot more work to be done across the country. but there are some hopeful signs. >> thank you for your insightful comments on this. we should point out before we go, the jury has just wrapped up and has said that he is guilty on all 63 counts. the jury has been excused. guilty on all 63 counts.

the federal classified documents case against former president trump is entering a new phase with judge cannon taking control in a move that cast doubt over the possibility she could recuse herself. judge cannon issuing an order to expedite the process to get trump's attorneys the security clearance necessary to review documents obtained during the mar-a-lago search. this is a critical step to give all sides an idea of how long the trump team will need to review all the evidence. joining me now, julia ainsley, phil rucker and former federal prosecutor glenn kirschner. what should we read into this move? does it signal she wants to move this along more quickly than we expected? if this happens or now whether it happens, how long will they have to review the documents? >> it's an order to get through the security process to move

quickly into this. what this means is her fingerprints are now on the case. for anyone who hoped she would recuse herself, that doesn't seem likely. she says, green light, let's do this, i'm on it. legal experts i have talked to said there's no clear reason to recuse herself. maybe she made a bad call. she's inexperienced. but there's no major conflict of interest either with her family or financial interests. there was no real reason to recuse herself. she's moving forward now. yes, it does look like it's an expedited pace because she set a deadline for those security processes to move up. maybe it's something we wouldn't read into if it was any other case. this is not any other case. >> no doubt. we are reading into every move that comes out of that courtroom, for sure. phil, to you. let's talk about president trump and how he is responding to this. he continues to lash out at the justice department, really anyone who seems to be even slightly critical of everything that's happening here, including his former chief of staff, john

kelly. this really is a similar move? this is how he responds to situations like these? >> that's right. this is how he has responded to accountability over the years in almost every instance to lash out, to claim his innocence, to present himself as some sort of victim who has been unfairly persecuted. that's the playbook that he is following here. he is doing it to some success politically, because he has been raising several million dollars from his supporters. by every measure, he remains the leader in the race to secure the republican presidential nomination. so clearly, he is trying to use the indictment and this upcoming trial to create a sense of victimhood around his candidacy and use that to galvanize the people who are inclined to support him for president, to stick closer to him to give more money to become more loyal

politically. that's not, of course, going to be enough necessarily to get him back into the white house. he would have to go through a general election. he is trying to use this to his advantage. >> phil, you have interviewed trump enough times to have insight into "the new york times" story out today with trump aides referring to papers and boxes that we now have seen all these pictures of as his, quote, beautiful mind material. they call it an organized chaos that the former president prefers. what insight can you provide to that organized chaos of donald trump? >> it is an organized chaos. viewers might remember back when he was running for president in 2016 and he did a lot of interviews, television interviews from his office at trump tower, and i interviewed him, he would have organized chaos all around him. stacks of magazines with his picture on it. newspaper clippings. he is a bit of a hoarder when it

comes to documents. he was that way in the white house as well. he is that way at mar-a-lago. it's one of the reasons he packed so many things into the boxes to take with him when he left the white house as "the new york times" reported. but it's not necessarily some sort of excuse for wrongdoing. there is organization here, and it's -- he is very hands on and intentional with the documents that he keeps and sort of keeps that inventory in his minds. he knows what he wants to have in his possession. the idea that there's just a lot of papers all over the place is not an excuse for what he is alleged to have done. >> you can't just horde classified documents. it doesn't work that way. the other defendant is walt nauta, who is very close to trump. by his side all the time. how can the court enforce the order that he not talk to the former president about the case when they are around each other so much?

nauta works for donald trump. how is this possible? >> the judge has to rely on the honor and the candor and integrity of donald trump and walt nauta. how do we suspect that will play out? they're not going to self-report if they happen to discuss the case, contrary to the rules set by the judge. if i can go back to the organized chaos reference. when i look at those photographs, which are deeply incriminating, when i read that indictment against trump and nauta as co-conspirators, i don't think organized chaos. i think organized crime. there is a conspiracy charge. not that that is equal to organized crime. but we also hear discussion of considering bringing a criminal prosecution under the georgia state rico laws. i think donald trump would like people to think this was chaotic, it was a mess, these

are mistakes. maybe i didn't give them back as quickly as i should have. but there's nothing to see here because it's just organized chaos. to somebody who has prosecuted rico cases, this looks more like organized crime. >> thank you all for your reporting. we appreciate it. still ahead, system failure. the department of justice's damning report on the practices of the minneapolis police department has just been released. what the investigation into the department found after the death of george floyd. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in 60 seconds only on msnbc. lways love their hair. which is why we made bounce pet hair and lint guard with three times the pet hair fighting ingredients. just one sheet helps remove pet hair from your clothes! looking good starts in the dryer with bounce pet. every day, more dog people are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. developed with vets. made from real meat and veggies. portioned for your dog.

and delivered right to your door. it's smarter, healthier pet food. breaking news from minneapolis last hour. the justice department out with a damning assessment of the minneapolis police department. an investigation launched after the death of george floyd at the hands of officer chauvin. the doj finding they use

excessive force and discriminates against black and native americans. >> our review found numerous incidents in which officers responded to a person's statement that they could not breathe with a version of, you can breathe, you are talking right now. we found that mpd unlawfully discriminates against black and native american people. they stopped black and native american people nearly six times more often than white people in situations that did not result in arrest or citation, given their shares of the population. >> joining me now is shaquille brewster who closely covered the aftermath of the george floyd death, and david henderson, former prosecuprosecutor. shaq, you were at this at the beginning. walk us through the findings. >> this is an extensive report we saw from the department of justice. that 92 page report had photos,

graphs, examples from the interviews with members of the community substantiating the claims we heard way back in 2020. the main findings from the report is one that you had a police department that engaged in excessive force in violation of the forth amendment. they unlawfully discriminated against black and native american people. they violated the first amendment rights and mentioned instances with the press who were covering the unrest. the final finding is there was unnecessary and potentially law enforcement response when responding to behavioral health issues. that's something that you heard the city mayor there, the police chief there, they are saying many of the changes, many of the proposals from the doj are already being implemented in that city. there's a ban on chokeholds and neck restraints. there's review of the use of force policies, including looking at and emphasizing how

you can deescalate interactions. this is extensive. a lot of people in minneapolis who were there protesting after the murder of george floyd, they will pay close attention to this. this validates many of the claims they were making. >> you say that they are starting to implement these reforms. does this report talk about the accountability in terms of the imitation of this over the long term? >> this will lead to a consent decree. an agreement between minneapolis and the department of justice. the current police chief, he knows this process. he was in newark and went through a similar decree. another factor is minneapolis, they are already under a similar court enforceable agreement with the state based on the state's investigation. this is a police department that will likely see a lot of change. you are seeing some of that. it's unfortunate that a lot of the change is happening after the deaths and injuries of citizens in minneapolis.

>> david, let's go to you. give us your reaction to this department's investigation of the minneapolis police department. obviously, shaq talked about what's going to happen in minneapolis. will this have an impact on police departments nationwide? >> the only affect it will have on police departments nationwide we have seen coming from the circumstances that led to this report and that that is simply that officers are going to be more cautious, at least during this administration in the white house, because they don't want to be subject to a doj probe. let's keep in mind, as damning as this is, as shaq mentioned, it's the second report like this. the minneapolis police department was investigated by state entities and federal. the biggest issue is not contained within the report. it's based on the idea you cannot fix what you will not acknowledge. shaq and i both were on lots of times in the past during

chauvin's trial. the minneapolis police dealt said he is just one bad apple. the rest of the people are good. these two reports show that's not true. one of two things must be true. either you are not aware of what's going on within your department, or you are intentionally denying what's going on within your department. that has to raise questions about the likelihood of meaningful change. >> david, i want to talk about a new poll that's out by "the washington post." it shows that half of black americans say racism will get worse over the rest of their lifetimes. this is striking. nearly 70% say that it's more dangerous to be a black teen now than it was when they were teens. do these results surprise you? do you think this is indicative of the time we are living in right now? >> unfortunately, they don't surprise me, which is difficult, because you want nothing more

than to express hope for the future. i think what i realize is the belief always was that maybe people just don't know what's going on. if they saw it, we would see change. the george floyd case, if anything, reflects that seeing it even is not enough. god gave you my son to show you what's going on. let's see if you get it right. we haven't. >> still a lot of work to do. millions across the south and gulf coast are bracing for dangerous weather after tornadoes killed three people in the texas panhandle last night. the youngest victim 11 years old. neighborhoods just south of the oklahoma border are completely flattened. residents only had a four-minute

warning before the direct hit. search and rescue teams with now on the ground. survivors are working to move the debris. at least 7 people were injured. more than 9 million people are at risk of severe weather today. the dangerous conditions are expected to last through the weekend. golden opportunity? why some democrats are frustrated that the white house isn't using the trump indictment as a way to boost joe biden's 2024 re-election campaign. we will talk about that next here on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. rea mitcl reports" only on msnbc

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with a majority of americans less than excited about a potential rematch between biden and trump, in april 70% of the people polled said they don't want biden to run again. 60% said trump shouldn't run

again either. they argue a third party candidate could tip the scales in favor of trump. joe manchin could be on the ticket after these recent comments. >> party identification is not going to change me. democrat, republican, having a d and r should not change you. >> people say you might be a spoiler, what would you say? >> i would never intend to be a spoiler. >> the presidential door is open. you will leave it open. >> i haven't closed anything. i kept everything open. >> typical joe manchin, never closing the door on anything. joining me now is vaughn hillyard. vaughn, how real is this third party bid? you talked to the group's co-chair. what's the thinking? >> reporter: they are a power player. they will be a power player if they go through with this effort. this is a multimillion dollar

effort by no labels to build a unity ticket, potentially joe manchin or a republican or another democrat and a republican. the co-chair and the group lays claim that americans deserve a more centrist option. americans don't want joe biden to run. they don't want donald trump to run. at the same time, independent third party candidates don't have a strong track record in the united states. this time around, no label says they could pull off victories in 25 states. i talked to one of the strategists who is on that call of concerned democratic strategists and others critical and concerned about trump winning the 2024 election, who told me that, look, in the case of which it is donald trump and joe biden a no labels candidate, they would take a share away from joe biden. i posed a question about the prospect of spoiling a joe biden

win. take a listen. >> if we find that the polls are changed and joe biden is way, way out ahead and the person who the republicans may choose, and if they continue to choose donald trump, even though he has been indicted, then no labels will stand down. we are not interested in being a spoiler. >> you heard that time line that he laid down. next april is when the group will hold its political convention and announce its republican and democratic unity ticket here. the question is, what will polling look like ahead? will they intend to run a true campaign over the next year? there's a lot going to be at play the next months ahead. >> a third party, not a spoiler, it hasn't happened in american politics in a long time. thank you. let's talk about the no labels candidacy, president biden's reelection bid and other

things. robert gibbs, a former obama white house press secretary, sam stein and sabrina siddiqui. there's reporting from nbc news that some democrats think the president should be using the trump indictment to his advantage in his 2024 bid. it's malpractice to stay silent. there's legal ramifications here. president biden has shown an interest to stay away from this. is he making a mistake? >> no, absolutely not. he needs to stay far away from this. the white house and the president are correct. they shouldn't comment on this. they haven't. they won't. when i was in the white house, barely any of us had clearance to even call the department of justice. lord knows it wasn't on indictments. i think the idea that somehow this is going to provide -- that joe biden's commentary as a political pundit on this will provide intelligence about how

people should feel about the trump indictment, my guess is that a lot of people have made up their minds on the trump indictment. they have seen reporting ton. they understand the evidence on it. i don't think joe biden is going to tip the scales on any of that. the only thing he is going to do is fall into the trap of are a proving trump more right about the idea this is a witch hunt. that's silly. >> sabrina, i know you have talked to folks at the white house about this specific issue. what's the sense that you are getting about the reaction that's coming from some democrats about leaning into this? >> i think what i heard from white house officials is that president biden promised specifically to restore independence to the justice department. they have been very careful not to comment on any investigations concerning former president trump, because they don't want to give the appearance that they are in any way meddling into an investigation into a political opponent.

i think to robert's point, the view is that if president biden or the white house were to weigh in more forcefully on the indictment, that could give credence to this notion that there's some kind of political infear ens or this is political in some way. there's a lot of polling sho ing voters are concerned with issues that impact them on the day-to-day basis, economy, jobs, health care. the view not just in the white house but among the biden campaign is that the focus should be on everything the president accomplished from a legislative standpoint. if you think back, there were the mueller investigation. there was the investigation -- an impeachment inquiry into then president trump. what you heard from then candidate biden was very much about the issues and how trump was governing, not so much some of the investigations that animate trump's base and don't

carry as much weight with the independent voters. >> sam, let's go back to the potential no labels bid. the rhetoric is that if joe biden is way ahead, i'm not sure what the definition of way ahead is, that they will drop their effort. biden and trump are four points apart in 2020. 2016 was tighter. people thought that hillary clinton was way ahead in the polls in 2016. we saw how that worked out. how on earth can they come to some sort of definitive decision on this by april of next year with any kind of specificity as to know which direction the campaign is going? >> they can't. if they tried to, it would be silly. first of all, april is way out. you don't know how the campaign will progress. to your point, if we know anything it's that polling in a presidential year involving donald trump, it's not exactly a science. you just -- we have had two

cycles where polling has been off. also let me just add is that they would pull out if joe biden was way ahead, that means they would stay in if he was close, which would enhance the idea that they would be a spoiler. the closer to the election, the more likely that no labels has a chance to tip the scales by being in the election as a backer of a third party candidate. this is not an actual bid or an enterprise being done on ideological grounds. they are making their judgment solely on the idea that there might be some sort of public appetite for a third party option in the abstract. not that joe biden necessarily is too liberal for the group. there's a lot of people out there who just don't want joe biden as a candidate, including democrats who fear that he may be too old. we know this is their thinking. when they sat down for an interview with us, we asked them, if ron desantis, who is running to trump's right, on a

whole variety of issues, emerges as the republican candidate, what would you do with your third party bid? we would likely drop it. if the more conservative candidate ends up being the nominee, then your shtick is that you are centrist, that doesn't make sense. they are running a campaign on political grounds, not ideological ones. >> sam, we don't have time to get to it today. your explosive piece on whether or not we should be able to wear sneakers in the speaker's lobby, let me say i'm all in favor of sneakers in the speaker's lobby. i have my nike dunks on right now. you can't see them. check that out. thanks, sam. lending his voice. president biden landing in connecticut and joining the growing chorus calling for stronger gun safety laws amid a

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returning to the breaking news from the top of the hour. a jury in pittsburgh has convicted the man accused of carrying out the most deadly

anti-semitic attack in american history. the gunman who has never denied his role in the attack was con convicted on all counts. 11 people were killed and six others were injured, including four responding police officers. nbc news has delivered some exclusive reporting about the steps that president biden wanted to take to maintain the u.s./china relationship after the chinese spy balloon was shot down in february. his top advisers argued for a different approach. carol lee helped to break this story. what did you discover? >> if you remember in february after the u.s. shot that chinese spy balloon down, president biden came out publically and said that he expected to talk to president xi soon, it his words, and that they were going to get to the bottom of this. behind the scenes, the president wanted to talk to president xi.

that call has not happened. he said that he thought his relationship with president xi could be helpful, that it could tamp down tensions if they had a conversation and smoothed this over. his aides made the case it wasn't the time for that, that a phone call between the two leaders was not the thing to do to get the relation backs on track, that rather what needed to happen was to get lower level conversations going and then try to work your way to the top. the president was talked out of doing what he thought was potentially strategically the thing to do, which is pick up the phone. he is a relationships diplomatic type of president and pick up the conversation and move on. that didn't happen. they have not spoken. yet, we have seen the strategy play out with other levels of conversations between the u.s. and china. >> right after this all happened, the secretary of state canceled a trip there. now it seems as though things are starting to cool down at

least a little bit these tensions. what else is the u.s. doing to restore relations? >> the secretary's trip, that's back on. he is taking the trip this weekend. the biggest piece of evidence of that. what we saw was largely conversations freeze and things were not happening in the couple months after february. in the last month or so, things have eased up. we saw the national security advisor meet with his counterpart in vienna. the cia director was in beijing. the commerce secretary hosted chinese officials in washington, d.c. now the secretary is going for the visit. once secretary blinken has that visit, there will be other officials to take trips to beijing. then perhaps a discussion between president xi and president biden. >> excellent reporting, thank you so much. at any moment, president biden will land in connecticut for the national safer communities summit. a gathering for gun reform that was started after the massacre

at sandy hook elementary. today is up with year since the first major gun safety bill passed in congress in three decades. overnight, more gun tragedies. police say two men shot as the denver nuggets victory parade was wrapping up were targeted. in ohio, three young brothers, 7, 4 and 3, were shot and killed by their father. according to the gun violence archive, there have been more than 19,000 gun deaths this year alone and nearly 300 mass shootings. senator chris murphy led negotiations on the bipartisan safer communities act. he joins us now live from the university of hartford, which is hosting the president today. senator, thank you so much for being here. we appreciate it. the white house today announcing steps that it is taking to expand youth mental health investments under that law you helped pass. you spoke with the president this morning. what are your goals for today's summit? >> we are excited to have

president biden here in hartford with us. we are proud of the law we passed last year. 30 years we did nothing when it came to protecting our kids and our communities from gun violence. last summer, we passed the bipartisan safer communities act. it includes five major changes. it has $15 billion in it for school safety, community anti-gun violence programs and mental health investments. i'm glad the president announced today they will make it easier for schools to get access to that funding. what i want to do today with the president is really celebrate the progress we have made. we are passing laws at the federal level, the state level at a pace we haven't seen in three decades. i believe we will pass universal background checks as the president calls for. you have to celebrate the progress we have made. that's what today's summit is all about. that's a big part of the message that president biden will bring here in about an hour. >> it's been about three months since president biden issued his executive order for garland to

clarify anyone engaged in the business of selling firearms, and that would increase background checks. when do you expect to see the feedback on whether or not this implementation is working? do you think it's enough? >> it is certainly not enough. what the president said is he will get as close to universal background checks as he can under the current law. we changed that law last year. we clarified who has to perform background checks with the idea that more individuals who are selling maybe a dozen guns online or at a gun show who right now don't get licensed, and that means they don't perform background checks and they off reason selling guns to criminals and people with serious mental illness, that they get licensed. this change in the law that we did last year allows the president to set these new guidelines for who has to get licensed, who doesn't. that's going to mean tens of thousands of more background checks done in this country,

less dangerous people getting guns. i'm hopeful we will see that rule come out from the administration later this year. >> let's talk now about the statutes that you are talking about, codifying some of them. polling does show broad support over what is often called common sense gun reforms. schumer has not committed to putting any of this legislation on the floor. we are putting up the numbers on how -- what americans say about criminal background checks. 87%. 81%, improve existing laws. raise the age to buy a gun, these are all 70% and above. the senate is resistant to hold messaging votes. but do you think we are at a stage where the majority leader needs to put these bills on the floor so that you can get both republican and democratic senators on the record when it comes to reforms like these? >> this law, of course, is just a year old. a lot of our focus, those that

have been at the forefront of the anti-gun violence movement, is on implementing that law and getting it right. getting that law right is the fastest way we can reduce gun violence rates. you mentioned some of the shootings over the last 24 to 48 hours. there's actually some interesting good news over the first five months of this year. gun violence rates in the biggest american cities are coming down. it looks like potentially by 10% or more. that's because we are implementing this law. that has been most of my focus and senator schumer's focus for the last year. i think there is a sentiment if we can't make bipartisan progress, building off of what we did last year, then we need to take some votes in the senate. in particularly, we need to show where senators show where is that rights stand on the issue of universal background checks, the most popular measure, but my priority is always to try to find republican and democratic agreement. that's the only way that anything actually passes right now in a government that is of

split control, but if we can't get that agreement over the course of the next few months, i think at some point we'll take votes in the senate. >> do you think you would get 51% of democrats to support a measure like universal background checks? >> i think not only will we get all the democrats to support expanded background checks but we will also get some republicans as well. there are a lot of republicans in the senate who don't want to vote on background checks because they know how popular it is. there's some republicans who probably don't want to vote on assault weapons as well because that enjoys 65% popularity in the american public. let's focus on getting a bipartisan agreement. if we can't, let's show folks where people stand. i think that will be important. >> senator chris murphy, we appreciate your time, sir. thank you so much. >> and calling it quits, teachers in texas feeling so much pressure, they're leaving the classroom all together. we'll tell you why, next here on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. reports" only

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for my kids, today is the last day. for districts across the country, they're contending with a looming problem for next year, and that's a shortage of teachers. nbc's antonia hilton joins me now. i have a lot of teachers in my family. your reporting does not come as a surprise to me. what's going on? why is it so difficult to keep teachers in the classroom? >> we're seeing this shortage across the country often fueled by burnout and low pay. in the state of texas, teachers say it's politics. we met with one teacher who said her dream career has become a nightmare. take a look. >> on the same day that high school english teacher emily ramser won an award for being an outstanding texas educator, she told them why she was among dozens of staff members resigning this year. >> this community has

continuously harassed me for the past few years to the point i didn't want to be alive today, much less be a teacher. y'all don't want people like me, people who might be gay to teach here. >> school districts across the country are facing a teacher shortage, fueled by burnout and low pay, but in texas, many blame politics. last year, ramser's district saw a 40% jump in retirements. >> i have taught these kids for years to write and to grow their voices, and i'm not going to let my actions say something different. >> ramser who identifies as queer says she was asked to change some of her lessons and to remove classroom art work and rainbow stickers. then one afternoon last year, a parent told a local news site that ramser encouraging her

child to become transgender by lending her a book called "the prince and the dress maker." >> all i did was give a kid a book. >> what went through your mind? >> i was terrified. i couldn't breathe, i couldn't think. >> reporter: the child and her father say the allegations were false, that the child already identified as transgender. the district cleared ramser, but never made a statement for her to the public. the district declined to respond to nbc news about this specific case but acknowledged it has more openings this year than last year, saying more other school districts, not only in texas but across the nation are also experiencing in declining retention rate of teachers and other employees. >> it's like we're in a battle with the school board when the school board should be on our side. >> people described emily's classroom as one of the most welcoming spaces at school. >> i think it was one of the few places anyone in general could feel accepted, no matter your

race, religion, gender, sexuality. >> reporter: do you feel safe at school right now? >> not entirely, no. there's a lot of aspects of who i am as a person that i can not express because of the environment of the school that i go to. >> reporter: nbc news obtained the district's 2023 teacher engagement survey. in it almost 300 out of 1,500 staffers complained about the board. by the end of the school year, emily ramser's once vibrant classroom was barren. >> nobody can stop you from getting the education you deserve. i'll give you book recommendations because i can now hopefully, but you really can do anything. >> reporter: surrounded by her students, she was determined to teach one final lesson. >> teachers don't get into that business to get rich, and so it has to be frustrating when they have to deal with the ancillary issues. what type of support are teachers getting? >> what they tell me is they get

support from each other. they talk to each other, give each other advice or job recommendations for the teachers looking to change districts or schools. the texas education agency, sort of the equivalent of their department of education measures the attrition rate, and they have seen this spike in teachers leaving the field, but they haven't come out and made major statements on behalf of teachers or directly defended them when these kind of cases or accusations have come out. when i hear from teachers is they want to see more officials come up, speak on their behalf and help them be able to stay in the careers that they loved. >> antonia hilton, thank you so much for your reporting. we appreciate it. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea will be back on tuesday. follow the show online, and on facebook, and on twitter@mitchellreports, and you can find me