it is good to be back with you in this second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, breaking news, hunter biden stuns the special counsel. his last minute offer to change his plea just as jury selection was set to start in his tax case. will the president's son be able to avoid a highly public trial. we're live at the courthouse as

proceedings get back underway. also developing, donald trump's indictment in the federal election case. it was back before a judge, but completely upended. the courtroom battle today and the big decisions looming after the supreme court's immunity ruling. and major news in the campaign money wars. the massive new haul from kamala harris's team and how it compares to donald trump's fundraising numbers. and could a school shooting in georgia have been avoided. what we're learning about the fbi's past encounter with a 14-year-old who's now accused of murdering 4 people. our nbc news reporters are following the latest developments. let's begin with david noriega who's live, where hunter biden is returning to the courtroom after a recess. did they have any idea what was coming? >> reporter: chris, no. they had no idea. this was a shocking, dramatic

moment just minutes into the opening of proceedings, this morning, when abbe lowell, the lawyer representing hunter biden. after the judge explained how the proceedings for jury selection said there is no reason to proceed with jury selection as mr. biden intends to change his pleas. in response, special counsel said this is the first we've heard of this. that means there's no plea agreement. the government has not agreed to any kind of conditions for this plea, which means that a lot still hangs in the air. it is not clear whether this gambit exists. an alford plea, although they are accepting a conviction and sentence, they are not factually admitting guilt as per the alleged criminal activity in the indictment. that is a very sort ofin the

weeds plea that needs approval from high ranking officials inside the department of justice. that's what we're going to find out in the next couple of hours, as all parties file back into the courtroom. this is why the judge for now is holding the 125 or so potential jurors here in the courthouse because it's not clear whether they're going to be dismissed or whether the court is going to proceed with jury selection as planned, chris. >> keep us posted on that, david noriega, thank you. on the other side of the country, a judge is deciding how to move forward on donald trump's election interference case following the supreme court's immunity ruling. i want to bring in msnbc legal continue, lisa rubin, who was inside the courthouse, and there was a debate about what allegations in the indictment can stay. what can you tell us? >> chris, the debate today wasn't just about what allegations in the indictment should stay or go, but the process for determining that was really the name of the game today. the special counsel's office saying that they want to present judge chutkan with the brief that defending their superseding

indictment under the supreme court's immunity decision that gives her the evidence they relied upon. president trump's lawyers, on the other hand, saying none of this should be briefed now. they want to first deal with the question of whether the allegations about former vice president mike pence belong until the indictment. they say if you take out of the indictment the stuff about the conversations between trump and pence, that the entire indictment has to fall because it is so heavily reliant on those conversations which they believe qualify for immunity. >> lisa rubin, thank you for that. now to a new nbc exclusive. we just got our hands on chairs's -- kamala harris's massive fundraising for august. how much did she raise, and how does it compare to donald trump? >> reporter: this is an eye popping moment, from my colleagues, that the harris political operation, not just

the campaign but the affiliated entities brought in $300 million total during the month of august. we won't get into the break down of who raised what and how until september 20th. it's significant when you look at the numbers that the donald trump political operation brought in in august. that's 130 million for that team, for the republican operation, and then 300 million for the democrats, and so they're talking about clearly all of these key moments that we just saw in august, and remember that since becoming the de facto democratic nominee. when she took over the reigns of everything in late july, following president biden's exit from the race. if you take that amount of time plus august, the entire political operation has raised more than $540 million in that short time, and so they're point to go that kind of momentum as one of the reasons why because then in august, you had the announcement of her running mate, governor tim walz. you also had the democratic

national convention in chicago, and those events brought in really high numbers and sums that contributed to this. they were also saying that the fundraising has still looked strong after that. now into september. and so they only anticipate this will grow. that's why you saw the harris campaign make decisions about giving money to down ballot races and making some of that strategic realignment as well. we will likely expect to see more of that. but in the fundraising game in its totality, these are things we need for the advantage in terms of trying to do paid media blitzes and opening more offices if they feel they need them in certain battleground states and all of those kinds of things. with nine weeks to go, this really just shows you what democrats are touting as an enthusiasm moment for vice president harris and one they hope will continue in the weeks to come, and i think you can expect, chris, the debate will likely be another moment that

both candidates will probably bring in pretty big hauls. >> monica alba, thank you. we're learning more details about the 14-year-old suspect in a deadly school shooting, including an encounter he had with law enforcement a year before this tragedy. nbc's jesse kirsch is on the ground in winder, georgia. what more do we know? >> reporter: chris, we just learned a short time ago, our colleague, tom winter, now able to report that according to two law enforcement sources, the suspect in this shooting appears to have been looking into having an interest in previous mass shootings. that's new information that we have just learned and able to report in the last few minutes. we are also learning more about the suspect's past, according to the fbi. they had previously investigated his potential connection with possible threats of violence against schools in the past. however, authorities have said there was no probable cause for an arrest in that incident in

2023. fast forward to today, the georgia bureau of investigation says the suspect has been charged with four counts of felony murder. he has made a virtual court appearance. here's part of what the sheriff told us in the community about the suspect's past. >> we later found out in our investigation to the gbi that -- because the federal authorities showed up and said, hey, we had a tip, somewhat, if you will on this, where he got on to a web site, and i think the tip was i'd like to shoot up a school somewhere in the future. we felt like he's idolized some school shooters. >> reporter: so, again, that's more of what we're learning about what has gone on in the past with this shooter, the suspected shooter, who we're told, according to authorities, according to the sheriff was two days into being a part of this

school district. he had transferred to the school district in the last couple of weeks, after school started and this was his second day in the school yesterday when it deadly rampage unfolded, according to officials. chris. >> jesse kirsch, thank you. when we're back in 90 seconds. more on our top story, hunter biden's offer to change his plea. will the federal government go along with it? our legal experts are standing by. our legal experts are stanng by ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life

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we are back with that breaking news from california where hunter biden's last minute offer to change his plea stopped jury selection cold and sent the key players behind closed doors. i'm joined by nbc's mike memoli, msnbc legal analyst, and former manhattan assistant d.a. catherine christian and glenn kirschner, former district attorney for d.c. we understand, just to update people, that just a few minutes before 2:00, we know that the special counsel, biden's lawyer went back into the courtroom. we don't know if they've started the proceedings yet, because strategy-wise, what do you make of this move? >> well, it looks like hunter biden and his lawyers think maybe it will go better for him if he's permitted to plead guilty pursuant to an al ford plea. they are disfavored in the criminal justice system. the case that gave rise to this kind of a plea, you know, was

decided by the supreme court more than 50 years ago, someone named henry alford wanted to plead guilty to second-degree murder when he was charged to first-degree murder and potentially could have received the death penalty, he wanted to plead guilty, but he wanted to maintain his innocence. that case went all the way up to the supreme court, but the supreme court ruled a defendant, together with their counsel can decide it's in their best interest to plead guilty, even if they are maintaining their innocence. however, the legitimacy of the criminal justice system is dependent on people who plead guilty being guilty, admitting guilt and accepting their responsibility. that's why courtesy of your earlier piece, it has to be run up the bureaucratic chain at the department of justice. i had to do this when i was a federal prosecutor in washington, d.c., if somebody wanted to try to enter an alford plea. it's an open question where the higher ups at the department of justice will give the field

prosecutors authority to enter this kind of a plea. >> let me ask you, based on your experience, how often did it happen, and how complicated was it to run it up that chain of command! ? >> you know, we can get approval from doj higher-ups very quickly when we need to. i suspect we're going to hear something, if not today, perhaps in the coming days, and, you know, alford pleas are not ordinarily used in federal court, but they have been. the judge will have to be satisfied that there is ample evidence that hunter biden is, in fact, guilty, even though he maintains his innocence, if the judge is going to be willing to accept this kind of a plea. >> catherine, what do you imagine has been going on behind closed doors over the last couple of hours since they put everything on hold? >> first, the judge probably admonishing the defense attorney, why are you doing this now when i have a jury sitting

there. what a judge typically says is are you pleading guilty because you are guilty? as glenn says, the criminal justice system relies on convicting the guilty, not the innocent. >> msnbc as reported that the biden family was hoping to avoid a trial obviously. he's no longer the candidate, but this is very much a personal thing for this family that has been through a lot of ups and downs in 2024. what can you tell us? >> reporter: i was in and out of delaware on the gun related charges in june. you can see how emotionally wrenching this was not just for hunter biden but the biden family members that were there to support him. i remember speaking with jill biden days after the verdict, she talked about how tough a week it was for the family, that they had to relive the difficult times, remember the emotional

greeting that hunter biden had with his father just before his father traveled overseas. if the family could lift this legal burden off hunter biden, they would, but they have also supported him throughout the entire process to pursue the legal strategy as it was. as difficult as the trial was on the gun charges, it scratched the surface in terms of forcing the family to have to relive difficult moments. we saw testimony from his ex-wife, brother's widow, former girlfriend, his own daughter. there would have been new testimony on a far broader period of time, a far broader subject matter. salacious details would have surfaced. every step that could be taken to avoid the trial is one the family would welcome, even as they have supported his legal team's ability to set their own strategy that they believe is in hunter's best interest. >> politics is not supposed to be part of any case. right? so what kind of argument should

hunter biden's lawyer, what's his strongest argument to get this done? >> one, just last year, your honor, they offered my client two misdemeanors and no jail time. what has changed in this past year, and the prosecutor will say, we had to go to the grand jury, so what. and also the other argument is my client is being targeted because he is the son of the president. that's also probably part of the argument. i think it's going to hang on. just last year, they were offering two misdemeanors, we're prepared to do that now. >> let's say the judge doesn't accept it. what happens then? >> then they continue with jury selection, and i have a feeling ordinarily judges will defer to both the defense, if the defense wants to plead guilty and the prosecutors if they say we have ample evidence to convict hunter biden, if we proceed with the trial. but the real risk is hunter biden is facing more than 15 years in prison. those are the statutory

maximums, and i think most folks know that the voluntary sentencing guidelines come in well below that. these would be probation eligible offenses. when you just plead like this with no deal at all with the prosecutor to cap your exposure or your sentence. it will represent a real risk for hunter biden. >> considering that risk, mike, is the white house saying anything more about whether the president would consider pardoning his son if it came down to it? he was asked that question repeatedly when he was expected to be the nominee for the democratic nominee for president. that's not the case anymore. but do we know anything more contemporaneously? >> the president is currently travel to go where i am in southwest wisconsin for an official event. during the flight on air force one, the white house press secretary was asked by reporters, does the president revisit considering pardoning her son. no was the answer to the question. she was asked about

consideration of a commutation, that may spare him a sentence. he's awaiting sentencing on the gun related charge. karine jean-pierre ruling that out. there have been so many people speculating once the election is over, yes, he's not a candidate but the political fallout for him to issue a pardon at this point would be politically explosive, potentially that would change, but every time the white house has been asked about it, every time i have talked about this with close officials to the president, they flatly rule this out. we'll have to wait and see once the time comes. >> mike memoli, catherine christian, glenn kirschner, thank you. we'll follow what happens in the courtroom. but straight ahead, liz cheney's bold challenge to fellow republicans who claim they love the constitution. will it work? will it work .and itchy eyes, thh may be even more uncomfortable. people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor.

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so we're getting some news out of the courtroom for hunter biden, who shocked everyone when his lawyers said he wanted to enter an alford plea, essentially changing his plea in the case. i want to bring in nbc's david noriega who is outside the courthouse in los angeles. so they've had a little time to talk amongst themselves. what are we learning about what's being said inside that courtroom right now? >> yeah, chris, so just literally seconds ago we heard from folks inside the courtroom that special counsel leo wise for the justice department is

strenuously opposing hunter biden's attempt to enter an alford plea. just to recap, an alford plea is one where hunter biden admits a conviction, a sentence in court. he would likely be convicted of the alleged crimes but does not factually admit wrong doing according to the facts of the indictment. here's what special counsel had to say about that. i want to make it crystal clear the u.s. opposes an alford plea. hunter biden is not innocent. hunter biden is guilty. we did speak briefly with the defense. it's not clear what they are attempting to do. the government is not prepared to agree or not agree to this today, that if there is to be some kind of plea, they need more time to consider it, and more time to discuss it with the defense. this is in sharp contrast to abbe lowell's hunter biden's attempts in the hearing this morning to say the court and government should be prepared to accept an alford plea within the course of the day.

it's not looking likely that will happen based on the government's response so far. we don't know, and that's what we're going to be learning over the next hour or two. that's why the judge has chosen to keep the 125 jurors in the building in case we go on with jury selection proceedings. >> thank you for that. i know if we get more, we'll come back to you. i want to bring back glenn kirschner and catherine christian, msnbc legal analysts. i want to adjust a little bit of what we're learning of what leo wise, the special counsel said. he said, there's no way to rush this at this point, and it shouldn't be rushed. is it reasonable to say that if there is any expectation at all that you're going to accept an alford plea, we need to have a little time. you just can't spring it on us. glenn? >> yeah, you know, just before the break, catherine had mentioned that i'll bet the

first thing the judge did was dress down hunter biden's lawyers, why are you springing this on everyone at the last minute. that can be gamesmanship, it can be a ploy to buy more time when you're on the verge of jury selection, now it looks like maybe the chickens are coming home to roost. this is something that should have been smoothed out and worked through with the prosecutor. the court should have been on notice of it, so the court wasn't going to inconvenience more than a hundred prospective jurors that have to come to the courthouse, and sit around and wait and see what hunter biden was going to do. i will say, and i mentioned before the break, alford pleas are disfavored. when i had defense attorneys ask whether their client could plead guilty pursuant to alford and maintain their innocence, i almost always said no. because it runs contrary to the need for defendants to admit to what they did and accept responsibility. that's what gives judges a comfort level in accepting those guilty pleas. >> here's the interesting part

to me from leo wise, well, there's many things about what happened while they were in break, but i'm going to quote hill here. hunter biden is not innocent. hunter biden is guilty. we did speak briefly with defense during the break, and it's not clear what they're attempting to do. what do you think they are attempting to do? is this a hail mary? >> this is a hail mary. they not only blind sided the court, they blind sided the prosecution. typically you discuss pleas before you get to court. i'm talking about a regular plea where the clients say i'm guilty. it's unclear what mr. biden's lawyers did here other than upset the judge, inconvenience over a hundred people who came for jury selection, and also upset the prosecution. >> so does it sound to you, based on what's -- and again, court is ongoing, glenn, we'll wait and see what happens. but could a decision not be made

today? do you think that's likely or is the judge more likely to say, no, no, no, this isn't going to work? >> i have a feeling the judge will probably want to move this case forward in jury selection, and to trial. rather than kind of waiting on the whims of hunter biden. and his lawyer, you know, this should have been ironed out before. it feels like a bit of a game that's being played. so -- and you can envision that if hunter biden goes in and says, i'm absolutely innocent, but then the government, i'll use this word a little bit loosely, railroads him into a guilty plea, that is not a good look for anybody. not in a high profile case, not in any case. >> could that happen? could he make a decision to just go ahead and plead guilty and take his chances? or could he appeal if the judge says, no, we're not accepting the alford plea, can that be appealed to a higher court?

>> it can't be appealed that.st within the justice's discretion. the supreme court ruled you don't have a constitutional right to have this type of a guilty plea accepted by the court justice because you offer to do it or pursue it. it feels like we are more likely going to be heading in the direction of a trial rather than an alford plea. >> glenn and catherine, i know you're going to stay around just in case we get some more information out of the courtroom. we'll be back with more right after this. ack with more right after this ot your sunday obsession and we got you now with verizon, get nfl sunday ticket from youtube tv on us... and a great deal on galaxy z fold6... for a total value of twelve hundred and fifty dollars. only on verizon. (jalen hurts) see you sunday!

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liz cheney has laid down the gauntlet to other republicans. if you believe democracy is at stake, it's not enough to deny donald trump your vote. >> i don't believe that we have the luxury of writing in candidates' names, particularly in swing states. and as a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the constitution, i have thought deeply about this, and because of the danger that donald trump poses, not only am i not voting for donald trump, but i will be voting for kamala harris in this election. >> the question now is whether cheney's move will open the door for others to do the same. she's from an iconic republican family, deeply conservative, pro gun, antiabortion. already this week, john mccain's son had endorsed harris, following a lineup of prominent

republicans who spoke at the democratic national convention, and then there was that letter from more than 200 former staffers of four previous republican nominees, all of them supporting harris. joining us now, matt gorman, former senior communications adviser for tim scott, and former aide to jeb bush and mitt romney. megan hays, former special assistant to president biden and form director of message planning. we know very few endorsements have the power to move the needle. do you think this could maybe even more broadly sort of push the trend of republicans leaving trump? could it have an impact? >> you know, i don't. i think certainly liz cheney's made no secret of what she thinks about donald trump, so it wasn't a surprise. i fail to see who that person in a swing state, maybe that independent voter was hemming and hawing beyond the fence, and suddenly, liz cheney sides with kamala harris, and they say, you know what, that's the way now.

look, she has the right to vote for whomever she wants. i don't see this to have a massive impact. >> again, that may well be the case. but if you're talking about people who may be have thought to themselves, you know what, i'm just going to write in a name, i'm going to vote for myself. i'm going to vote for dad, i'm going to vote for whoever, they might say, oh, you know what, maybe i do need to vote my conscience in whatever way that is? >> look, i hear that. i personally believe -- i don't think it's necessarily, well, i have to go with this person because i don't like another person. i don't owe the vote to anybody. you can write in somebody if that's what you choose. a vote is a statement of your values. i might disagree but respect it entirely. you're right, we live in such polarized times that, you know, it's a binary choice, and i

don't think suddenly somebody's going to don that liz cheney is going to make it one way or the other. >> cheney rejected the approach of pat toomey who said he won't support trump but he could not vote for harris either. do you think it's important this kind of philosophical question it raises that every voter's responsibility is this is her argument is to cast a ballot that equals defense of democracy? >> yeah, i do, and i also think, you know, i respectfully disagree with matt here. this sets up a permission structure for other republicans who are on the fence or are not going to vote to vote for a democrat probably for the first time in their lives. they also believe in the rule of law and constitution and want to support democracy in a way that donald trump does not or they don't feel that donald trump will. i think this is setting up a permission structure for those folks. you know, you have mccain's son also endorsing the the appointees from different republican administrations and

different staff endorsing the vice president for president, so i just think that this is just people are voting on character, and so you might not agree on the issues and they are fully saying, we don't agree on the issues but we are voting for character, and we are voting for democracy because donald trump will not protect that. >> here's how j.d. vance reacted to cheney's endorsement of kamala harris? >> a very good thing i can say about the next presidency of donald j. trump, he's going to make sure people like liz cheney are laughed out of the oval office instead of rewarded. kamala harris is liz cheney make interesting partners. they get rich when america's sons and daughters go off to die. they get rich when americas loses wars, and they get rich when america gets weaker. >> it feels like i have this conversation every day. i think it's an important one, which is he could have said what you said, matt, like, i don't think liz cheney is relevant here and move on. but instead, he did the tactic,

which was very familiar, which is attack. it works with his base but it does not expand, in fact, it does sometimes remind people who may be on the fence of what they might not like about politics. is that a mistake? >> i hear you on that. i think it's a little different in this specific scenario. right? i have followed j.d. vance's career, read his book, and i kind of recognize that in many ways i think for someone like him who is leery of foreign entanglements, but sees theneo conservative wing, the cheney family, as really being very idealogically opposed. i would see them crossing party lines, and more of a world you think for him. the cheney part of this in particular, the neo conservative part of this i think is what you saw kind of draw his ire more than anything else. >> do you think, meghan, that the harris campaign sees this

differently? there is reporting that they courted this endorsement. do you think it's at all possible she could go out for kamala harris maybe in some of the big battle ground states and would it be effective? >> the harris campaign would be lucky to have liz cheney on the trail with them or an e-mail or fundraising letters. it would be important and impactful. but i think her saying this unprompted, it was not a press release, she said it at an event in north carolina, doing it in north carolina is meaningful, and also in the ways it's done, it was authentic, and it was just sort of this is who i'm voting for and here's why. that also was impactful, and i think that reaches people in a different way than putting out a press release from the campaign. >> meghan hays, matt gorman, thank you both. vice president harris is in pittsburgh for what political insiders call debate camp. it's an intensive closed door week of practice for next tuesday's big event. her campaign agreed to a debate

demand from the trump campaign that the microphones be muted for the candidate not speaking. they did so grudgingly, writing, vice president harris, a former prosecutor will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format, which will serve to shield donald trump from direct exchanges with the vice president. we suspect this is the primary reason for his campaign's insistence on muted microphones. we understand that donald trump is a risk to skip the debate all together, as he has threatened to do previously if we do not accede to his preferred format. we do not want to jeopardize the debate. kelly o'donnell in pittsburgh, that statement, taking lemons and trying to turn it into lemonade. they got their shots in. tell us about, i guess there was a toss of a coin. they established the rules, what are they? >> reporter: what we will see on tuesday night is 90 minutes where the two candidates, former

president trump, current vice president kamala harris, they will be meeting for the very first time face to face, and there will be no notes, no props, and there will be a back and forth. and the microphones are scheduled to be off when one party is not speaking. so the focus would remain on the candidate who is directed a question, and if there is back and forth, the harris campaign has been trying to at least get the network that's providing the debate to consider opening up mics if there's a lot of overtalk. they're also expecting to have a party of the pool that travels with the candidates be in the room, in the studio space that they're creating in philadelphia, to be able to observe as journalists if there is talking that happens that is not directly on the television signal payoff the microphone situation. we'll see how all of that unfolds. of course as you pointed out, these were rules that were

agreed to when joe biden was intending to run, and were used during the first debate from june 27th. to some degree, the trump campaign entrusting the simple art of negotiation doesn't like to give up something it already had, while the harris campaign, really viewed this as a new opportunity with a new candidate to try to set up a dialogue and an interchange that would benefit the american people. from their point of view, they think open minds work better. we'll see how it plays out. it will be up to the moderators to direct the conversation. the reason we're here in pittsburgh is because the vice president is using this location for debate prep. she has her team with her here, and they will spend a few days working on the back and forth of rehearsing and going through the ideas and the policy issues, and all the strategy in a realtime sort of dress he reversal style, but being in pittsburgh in a state that matters so much also

gives her the opportunity to get local coverage by her mere presence here, and in addition, if she heads out for what they call those sort of unscheduled stops, a visit to a coffee shop or a local business or any of those things should she do that, that just generates more local interest. so while we're here covering it because we follow the candidates wherever they go, in the local media markets, which can be very influential for voters, there will be a lot of attention on kamala harris being in pennsylvania leading up to the debate, which will be held in the other big city, philadelphia on tuesday. >> free tv time, kelly o'donnell, thank you for that. we want to give youan update of what's happening inside the courtroom with hunter biden, as we have been telling you. he threw a curve ball today. said he wanted an alford plea, essentially saying i'm innocent but i'll plead guilty. there has been a lot of discussion from the special prosecutor who is strenuously objecting. the judge, according to our

folks in the courtroom seem confused about exactly what they were trying to do there now. they're in a 30-minute break and in the midst of all of this, 125 or so potential jurors have been hanging out, waiting to see what's going to happen. again, there is a break, whether everyone is at lunch or going to have conferences, we don't know, we'll keep you posted on what was going on in what was supposed to be jury selection for hunter biden. still ahead, teenage witnesses to tragedy, the heartbreaking stories from students now mourning two classmates and two teachers after a mass shooting one month into the school year. r

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schools were closed for the rest of the week throughout barrow county, georgia, after four people were killed at apalachee high school.

there was, aerial bowling, a sophomore was on the "today" show with her mother. talking about their experience. >> i'm trying to hold up myself, just still, like, really in shock of like processing everything that happened. we heard shots fired, and we ran back into the room. and we just all piled up on top of each other in the corner. i saw a deceased body on the floor, but it was like covered up. and i saw a female with a shot wound to her leg. and it was just, like, really traumatic experience. >> i heard five gunshots, and then the phone went dead. so i didn't know if she was hurt. >> i just feel like you're basically never safe anywhere. >> she told me she's never coming back here. i just don't know what to do.

it's scary. >> joining me now is lisa por morgan, president of the georgia association of educators. this is an unspeakably difficult time. thank you for being with us. i want to read part of the statement you posted on your group's web site. we enter our schools each day believing that they are the safest places in our community, and once again, that trust has been shattered. this was the 23rd school shooting in k-12 this year. can you put into words what it's like to be in the middle of it, and i wonder what goes through your mind when you hear a mother saying that her child has told her she's never going back? >> as a classroom teacher, you put yourself in that position. and we all enter our classes every day, and the utmost thing in our mind as we walk in the classroom is how am i going to ensure that my students learn

today. it should not -- now it is, but it should not be, how am i going to ensure that my students go home safely, that the entire perspective has changed, and it is traumatic, it is disheartening, and it's frankly i'm afraid going to push more really good educators out of our classrooms, and it's so understandable that the student feels this way. as adults we don't want to go back to somewhere that we've experienced trauma, and that we're going to expect these students to come back and walk back in that same place. it's horrifying. >> and we know there's been a lot of research on this that many of these students already felt traumatized by what they went through with covid. educators as well. extremely difficult time.

now this. i know that these students at apalachee were barely a month into the school year. for them, for the teachers who will have to return to that building presumably at some point, what resources are available? >> this is something we have been asking for. we have been asking for more counselors, more school social workers, more school psychologists to be available, and typically what happens in these situations is they will bring in additional school counselors, social workers, but they are not there permanently. it's a short term, and then those resources that are needed every day are no longer there, and that is one of our concerns in this situation for all of our students, that we provide more mental health resources for them within their schools, and that they be permanent positions that are going to be there to allow students to deal with these

traumatic experiences. >> and what about for teachers who find themselves with a classroom full of kids who we know they feel they need to protect. it's very, very challenging to do when somebody has an ar rifle. >> it is impossible to protect the students in that situation, even if we succeed in protecting them physically, we are not able to protect them mentally and emotionally from the impacts of these types of situations. one of the things that has been so clear, you have heard over and over, i never thought it would happen in my community. we have to expand that because when it happens in any community, that community has to be our community. we have to solve the problem so that we don't have parents and students and educators in

another community experiencing this trauma. >> all we can do from afar is, unfortunately, offer our prayers, offer our thoughts and hope that you get the resources that you need as i said, in this unspeakably horrific situation. lisa morgan, thank you, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us. >> thank you. and that is going to do it for us this hour. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" next. "katy tur reports" next. all across america. millions of americans who have medicare and medicaid but may be missing benefits they could really use. extra benefits they may be eligible to receive at no extra cost. and if you have medicare and medicaid, you may be able to get extra benefits, too, through a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. call now to see if there's a plan in your area and to see if you qualify. all of these plans include doctor, hospital and prescription drug coverage. plus, something really special, the humana healthy options

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