senator richard blumenthal, thank you very much for that.e appreciate it. >>> coming up, the political and legal questions being raised now that michael flynn's legal team has cut off communications with president trump's attorneys. >>> and later, north korea's military changes the landscape along its border with south korea. will it prevent more of kim jong-un's soldiers attempting to dash to freedom? >>> we're following a tantalizing new clue in the russia meddling investigation. a source tells cnn former national security adviser michael flynn's lawyers have stopped sharing information with president trump's legal team. the source says it may be an indication flynn now is cooperating in special counsel robert mueller's investigation. let's bring in our political and legal specialists. susan hennessy, i'll go to you first. what does this mean, do you think? >> it's not uncommon in these investigations for the various defendants to have a joint defense agreement, a joint information sharing agreement. they don't have much information about

i'll talk about those stories and more with richard blumenthal, a democratic on the judiciary and armed services committee and our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. first, let's go to cnn's ryan no nobles. he's up on capitol hill with more allegations against senator al franken. his accuser tells cnn she believes his apology is heartfelt but the senator is in hot water right now up on capitol hill. >> reporter: no doubt about that, wolf. senator franken stayed out of the public eye today and even avoided contact with his fellow democratic senators. this, despite the fact that not one member of the u.s. senate has called for him to resign. franken is still facing a serious ethics investigation, one supported by republicans and democrats. tonight, al franken, a democratic senator and former "saturday night live" comedian, is facing a senate ethics communication after claims by a radio host and former model that franken groped and forcibly kissed her during a trip to entertain troops overseas with the uso back in 2006 before franken was a senator. >> i was so angry. i wa

this is what richard blumenthal said about the moral responsibility the republicans will bear. take a listen. >> the republican party will bear a moral responsibility and political accountability for their failure to stand up and speak out against this kind of absolutely abhorrent use of the public media, and it is a disgrace. >> but by and large, jonathan, there's no daylight here. you have jeff flake saying he's going to give some speeches but aside from that there really has not been a ton of movement on that front. >> unless as time goes on, not more, republicans were much more nervous about trump, much more distance between him and them during the campaign and even at the beginning of the presidency and they just seem to have gotten tighter and tighter and they're more and more intimidated and i think what steve bannon is doing with his outside group targeting members of the senate is he's trying to identify anyone who's not going to stand behind trump, anyone who might raise a 25th amendment challenge and try to knock them out and make the party complete ly fall in line w

nicolle wallace, joy reid, c carrie cordero and senator richard blumenthal. >>> president trump began the morning after the terror attack with a tweet storm. did he bring the country together? not exactly. he went after chuck schumer and the democrats and blamed everybody for everything. the instant politicization. with the election for virginia governor one week out now, white house chief of staff john kelly dives into the culture war. is that where he wanted to go? resurrecting the debate over the confederate monuments and arguing that a lack of compromise -- was that what it was -- led to the civil war. weren't there a lot of compromises before that war? >>> the toll the mueller investigation is taking inside the white house. aides fearing it poses an existential threat to the trump presidency. they really do. some are urging trump to step up attacks on the man bearing the bad news, the special prosecutor himself. >>> let me finish with what's called in politics a comparison ad. this is "hardball," where the action is. d needing others. then we are told it's braver to go it alone.

those shell companies -- >> we interviewed senator richard blumenthal, a democrat, on friday. >> we will be formulating a strategy going forward because of this jaw-dropping new information. this kind of report is really a bombshell. >> the bombshell is that the leaked documents show that ross continued to control a major stake in a shipping company called navigator. navigator has a close business relationship with a russian oil giant called sibur, owned by members of vladimir putin's most inner circle. they include this man. husband of this woman, putin's daughter. >> she became one of the biggest co-owners of the petro chemical company sibur. also out of nowhere, he didn't have his own capital to invest, but he was given loaned by the state controlled banked. >> vladimir melof is now a member of the russian opposition, but he was once putin's deputy energy administrator. he believes sibur is part of putin's own secret business empire. >> you can speak of the petro chemical company as one of the assets that allegedly is owned and controlled by putin himself. >> of course, putin's name d

, senator richard blumenthal who tweeted, horror, heartbreak, what a shame. congress must act or be co complicit. we'll have more after the break. jimmy's gotten used to his whole room smelling like sweaty odors. yup, he's gone noseblind. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy. welcome! hhi!s it going? okay, so you've got two friends here. yes. this is the j.d. power award for dependability. now i want you to give it to the friend that you think is most dependable. ohhhh. ughh. wow. that's just not fair. does she have to? she doesn't have to! oh, i don't? no, but it's a tough choice, isn't it? yes. well luckily, chevy makes it a little easier. cause it's the only bran

speakers were vice president's and senator richard blumenthal

parting shots mentioned this earlier, richard blumenthal, few other figures this year. you have a lot of experience with biblical and opinions. how do you anticipate that. when we launched this proceeding right now culminating in so i look very carefully at our legal authority. it is clear to me we are not totally sound legal footing. for instance, the supreme court has ruled in 2005 the commission can classify abroad and internet in title i service which is what disorder does. you heard some concern people have expressed the 2015 decision upheld by the d.c. circuit is so drastically changed and the inability to do so is the weakness of the document. it expressly said that the fcc in 2015 didn't rely on changed circumstances and they did it matter to the court's decision. so it didn't matter then come it still doesn't matter today and so we are in very, very solid legal foundation for taking this step and i look forward to taking action. >> host: does this draft proposal return to the concept of net neutrality to the doctrine back in the early 00? >> guest: that's a rea

senators chris murphy and richard blumenthal of connecticut have been fighting for gun legislation since 2012 when 26 people were killed in that massacre at the sandy hook elementary school. republican tim scott of south carolina also signed on, two years after nine people were killed at a church in charleston. and senator jon cornyn has been compelled to act after 26 people were killed at a church in texas, just ten days ago. >>> new at 11:00 tonight, community members are suing the district over its handling of a library renovation. the capital view library here in southeast has been closed for months now. a group says the city failed to provide temporary library services the way it did for library renovations in other parts of the district. the group says the library is a pillar in the community where folks can have meetings, access the afterschool and youth programs too. >> the library is a quiet place and a safe place for the kids. they don't have that space now. work with us in terms of some of the things we actually wanted in the library renovation. >> the city tells us the librar

senator richard blumenthal, a few other figures said they foresee up for -- a court challenge later. you have a lot of experience with that legal underpinnings. how do you anticipate that playing out? if this order is challenged, i am guessing you know more about how this can together. i was the general counsel of the fcc when we launched this proceeding that is culminating in this order. i looked careful at our legal authority. it is clear we are on sound legal footing. the supreme court has already ruled in 2005 that the commission can classify broadband internet access with title i information service, which is what this order does. the supreme court has upheld it. you'll have expressed since the 2015 decision, the commission is under some obligation to drastically change, and the inability to do so is a legal weakness with the document. that is not true. if you look at the d.c. circuits position, it said the fcc and 2015 did not rely on change circumstances, and they did not matter to the court's decision. it did not matter then, it does not matter today. legal on very solid foun

joining us now, brett stevens and richard blumenthal.hal, a lot -- >> where to go first. >> a lot to try to digest on russia. but it's sort of like eating an elephant. there's just too much this weekend. of course, i -- i didn't mean, you know, like a republican elephant, but just -- >> i don't go along with eating elephant. >> okay. >> exactly. >> let's just go by the time. we start with the commerce secretary who was supposed to disclose any ties that may have been compromising with foreign powers. we now find out that he is linked financially to vladimir putin's son-in-law. >> vladimir putin's responsible and a member of vladimir putin's inner circle who is under sanctions from the united states, because he is involved in a company, and the sanctions are supposed to provide punishment for continuing to -- >> i feel misled. the congress should feel misled. wilbur ross came to our committee. he claimed to be divesting and selling all these interests. investiga in fact, he has retained an ownership stake in a company, navigator, that doe

russian incursion into ukraine so there is already been reaction here on capitol hill senator richard blumenthal a democratic senator from connecticut says he feels misled that this was not disclosed apparently rossi did disclose his investment in navigator but did not specifically disclose what that meant in terms of its ties to the russian energy company and blumenthal has called for an investigation by the inspector general of the commerce department that's the investigative independent arm of the commerce department he's a democrat on the other hand it's not clear that the republicans will follow suit so we're not exactly sure where this goes but we knows we know that it means more talk about the trump administration's relations to russia at a time when president trump wants no more of that john hendren with the latest from washington d.c. john thank you. a car bomb has killed at least one hundred civilians including children who were trying to escape the syrian city of dead as are at least one hundred forty others were wounded in the attack which i saw says it carried out government forces

senator richard blumenthal said secretary ross'financial russianres a leica nesting doll.closures are like a russian nesting doll. blumenthal is the only one who has expressed any concern about this. probably the secretary will get rid of this investment altogether. it's $2 million-$10 million for a guide worth $3 billion so i don't think he cares that much first up -- for a guy worth $3 billion. david: there have been concerns about ties to cyprus. a man with a fortune of this size has connections. has this been something that has been dogging him since he was nominated? these are the perils of appointing billionaires as cabinet members. they have very complicated financial situations. you run the risk that when they disclose those financial situations, there will bps is of information that government disclosure rules could not have contemplated that will be left out of those documents. that is what has happened here in probably has happened with other cabinet members. speaking of the bank of cyprus situation, that is a much more interesting route of inquiry about wilbur

senators chris murphy and richard blumenthal of connecticut have been fighting for gun legislation since 2012 when 26 people were killed in the massacre at sandy hook elementary school. republican kim scott of south carolina signed on as well, two years after nine people were killed in a church in charleston and senator john cornyn has been compelled to act after 26 people were killed at a church in texas ten days ago. >>> president trump is headed to capitol hill to rally house republicans before their vote on a tax cut package. that vote expected to happen this afternoon. tracie potts will have a look at whether they have the votes to pass this measure in a bit. >>> ocean city is considering changes to prevent attacks on the popular boardwalk. our news partners at wtop report that changes are in the attack to attacks on crowds. they're asking for new barriers at vehicle access points. there are 33 points and three more will be added in the off-season. the additional barriers could cost more than a million dollars. the hope is to have permanent barriers installed by summer of 2019. >>>

richard blumenthal / connecticut (d)nobody should never say never in the us senate, when it is the rightide of the issue and the right side of history, which a ban on assault weapons is. we had one for many years and it expired we should reinstate it. in the wake of the shootings in las vegas and texasrepublic an law makers say they don't think new lawssen. mike rounds / south dakota (r)youre not going to get the support to actually take out certain types of guns and say because it can hold more than so many bullets or because it's a particular style that somehow its more dangerous than others. alex limon tagthe bill grandfathers in people who already own the guns and accessories that would be bannedand it inclued exemptions for weapons specifically used for hunting. despite that it has a very slim chance at passing under the republican controlled congress. (vicki) sheriff deputies in san mateo are searching for a man they say sexually assaulting two women while they were walking on a popular trail. this is the sketch of the man deputies are looking for. both assaults happened at san bru

senator richard blumenthal. thanks for making time. >>> that's it. good evening rachel. and good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters in new york. this was day 300 of the trump administration. and there were new accusations tonight about alabama republican senate candidate roy moore. just two four more women have stepped forward. nine women in all have now publicly shared stories about their interactions with him. accord to "the washington post," one woman named gena richerson when she was a senior in high school smee met moore while working at schools. the post writes, quote, a few days later she says she was in trigonometry class at gadsten high when she was summoned to the principle's office over the intercom in her classroom. she had a telephone call. i said hello, and moore says gena, this is roy moore. they met that night at a movie theater in the mall after she got off work, a date with moore driving her to her car in a dark parking lot behind sears and giving her what she called an unwanted forceful kiss that left her scared. the local news spoke to

senator richard blumenthal. thanks for making time. >>> that's it. good evening rachel.

before air time i spoke with senator richard blumenthal, a member of the senate judiciary committee.> if carter page is telling the truth and informed attorney general jeff sessions about his trip to russia, seems to raise new questions. >> not only raises questions but really another powerful compelling reason that attorney general jeff sessions needs to come back before the judiciary committee and justify his statement that he was unaware of any contact between the trump campaign and russian officials, belied not only by report from carter page but also by the statement from george papadopoulos. there were numerous meetings and communications between him and campaign supervisor and high-ranking campaign official about his contacts with the russian foreign ministry. >> it is pretty surprising the extent to which jeff sessions seems to have pled ignorance on anything to do with russia. i would have thought somebody at his level would have people in the room, assistants who might take notes about what happened in any given meeting, particularly on the campaign. >> and particularly inc

joining us now is democratic senator richard blumenthal. they've acknowledged it. we'll have to see if this is something that happens enough to warrant some type of procedural change. military reporting is probably not the root cause of the gun problem we have in america. what do you think will change? what do you think could change that would help us stem the violence? >> let's be very clear, first, chris. there's a federal law that requires the air force to report and the military general to report these kind of crimes to the federal database. this law, evidently, was not followed here. that's why i want an investigation. but even more broadly, there are court-martials, thousands of them, every year, that involve very serious felonies as well as domestic violence misdemeanors. all of them should be reported. preliminary information available to me is they're not being reported and that is a major lapse in the system. >> what do you do about it? look, you're touching on what the root is of one of these things that should be common ground. common ground should be t

senator richard blumenthal. thanks for making time. >>> that's it. good evening rachel. >>> thanks my friend and thanks at home for joining us. senator elizabeth warren is here tonight and interview with a young whom is sleeper story of successful democratic politics thus far this year, electoral politics. no national profile at all but success is following here. sleeper democratic political success story. speak with senator warren. big story, looking forward to it. breaking news about the alabama senate race and republican candidate in that race. breaking news tonight, chris hayes was covering it as story break in the "washington post." from the remarkable team who broke open the story last week. last week four named women told "washington post" that roy moore, then deputy district attorney had approached them for sexual romantic encounters when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. one of the women said she was 14 when roy moore approached her and described what to her was scary and unwanted sexual encounter with him. after those four came for

senator richard blumenthal. thanks for making time. >>> that's it.ening rachel. >>> thanks my friend and thanks at home for joining us. senator elizabeth warren is here tonight d

congress are democrats only three republicans and the list includes mark warner, nancy pelosi, richard blumenthal and senator dianne feinstein what does that tell you? >> well it tells me the democrat s are not opposed to making money but they just don't seem to want anybody else to make money, and again that was what the tax reform is trying to do is to put enough capital out there in the economy again that entrepreneurs will be able to access it and build jobs. the democrats seem to have completely lost any connection with that sort of entrepreneurial instincts. >> liz: it's not our parents' democrat party. they have totally vanished. look at this stat the top four richest americans are all liberal rounding out the top 10 michael bloomberg, google co- founder larry page, why are conservatives always painted as the rich ones? >> well because it suits the democrats to do that and here is an interesting point about the past. in the past, the democrats were lined with a lot of private sector unions, the represented auto workers, mine worker, steelworkers. those unions understood that their fortunes

. >>> senator richard blumenthal, member of that same judiciary committee that has oversight of the department of justice where jeff sessions is the attorney general. does jeff sessions have a credibility problem? >> enormous credibility problem. he has to come back to the judiciary committee. i've written him today to ask him in effect to come clean, explain, clarify, justify, these apparent false statements to our committee that he had no knowledge of any contacts between the trump campaign and russian officials. and it is not only that picture, a picture's worth a thousand words, but it's also the papadopoulos plea document which details multiple contacts between him as a campaign surrogate and russian officials, literally the russian foreign ministry. and his e-mails to other in the campaign. >> i want to see if i'm tracking this. i want to stipulate what would have to obtain in order for sessions not to have intentionally misled you. it that is he did shut down that talk at the meeting, but doesn't remember the meeting whatsoever. that he was cut out of all subsequent communications and e

richard blumenthal saying today he feels duped by mr.oss' lack of transparency. >> he came before us and he apparently deliberately concealed these ownership interests. there ought to be hearings. if he fails to provide a convincing and compelling explanation, he ought to resign because this stake in a company with such close ties to putin's son-in-law, the russian oligarch subject to sanctions raises profound questions about whether he can put the nation's interest above his own. >>> wilbur ross told cnbc today he did properly disclose his interest in the russia-linked company navigator three times on the required disclosure form. the panel is back with us along with phil rucker. what makes this a story every time is that it's never that anyone -- i think we have a graphic of eight or nine or ten connections now between the trump campaign and russia. there we go. in the family, it's donald trump jr. and jared. in the business, michael cohen. on the campaign, papadopoulos, manafort, carter page, michael flynn and jeff sessions. and we'd

in a moment you'll hear from richard blumenthal but first pamela brown with more details. explain just the sheer length of this communication went on is stunning, pam. >> it is stunning. we should note that a lot of it was one-sided from wikileaks, but there were responses in some cases from don junior. he actually released this string of messages tonight on twitter that he had with wikileaks during the presidential campaign, anderson. and this follows a report in the atlantic about those exchanges. so let's walk through them. in september of last year we know that the fist message came. it was late september 2016 where wikileaks told him, quote, a pac run anti-trump site is about to launch. don junior responded off the record i don't know who that is, but i'll ask around. thanks. and according to the atlantic he did ask around by reaching out to members of the campaign, including trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, telling them wikileaks had reached out. it's unclear, though, in what context he was saying that, but kushner reportedly forwarded that e-mail on to hope hicks.

companies that held navigator but not navigator itself, and that's why some critics such as richard blumenthale senator from connecticut, essentially said he was using offshore shell companies to obfuscate. he ceased a lot of questions about his relationship with russia during the confirmation process mostly because of the business he did with cypress which is a destination for russianoly garks. navigation and sibur never came up and they tell us they didn't figure it out based on his disclosures. >> desjardins: they would not have been able to figure it out without these documents? >> the documents were crucial in piecing together the connection. >> desjardins: thank you sasha chavkin, with the international consortiumum of international journalists. >> thank you, lisa. >> yang: it was a momentous weekend in the middle east. in saudi arabia today, the government announced it would hold trials for 11 princes accused of corruption. their arrest was an unprecedented crackdown and just one of many aggressive moves made by the young saudi crown prince, in the last few days. and that turmoil sent o

here is senator richard blumenthal of connecticut. because of these laws work. common sense steps like background checks, a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. if you tell the most avid gun owner what background checks to you, keep guns out of the hands of criminals. and terrorists. no flat, no bite. >> senator chris murphy all from from connecticut said this in a statement that my colleagues need to think about whether the political support of the gun industry is worth the blood that flows and mostly out of the floors of american churches, elementary schools, movie theaters, and city streets. the massachusetts senator elizabeth warren tweeted this. thoughts and prayers are not enough. g.o.p., we must end this violence. we must stop these tragedies. people are dying while you wait. charlie, your thoughts. >> i understand it's a human reaction to want to say will could've been done to fix this? but this business of taking an event like this and trying to score political points in. throwing out suggestions of things that won't fix anything or even

senator richard blumenthal has called for ross' resignation or an ig investigation.o you agree with either of those calls? >> yes. absolutely i do. i also think he should be a part of our investigation. as a side note, chris, this week incidentally, you can't make this up, we're debating tax legislation that would make it even easier for businesses as the tax policy center says to offshore their profits and use shell companies like this, making it harder for us to expose these types of relationships. >> there is also some -- we got -- some of the transcript back from carter page's marathon session with your investigators. i don't know if it was in front of actual members or committee staff. i want to read first what he said. i want to play what he said to me about denying any official meetings or meeting with any officials when he was in russia. take a listen. >> again, i had no meetings, no serious discussions with anyone high up or at any official capacity. >> let me ask you this. >> it's just kind of man on the street, you know. circumstances that true? >> no, fal

he didn't choose to divest, he divested 80 companies, praised for it by democrats, senator richard blumenthalconfirmation hearing and then blumenthal goes on to say you did it to avoid any conflict of interest correct, that's correct, and that's where people are saying he could have jumped in. >> could have jumped in absolutely. and to your point ethics officials knew about his stake in this company. >> right. >> right. >> and they allowed him to keep it. it's just that there's a problem with disclosure in our country and the way it works. it doesn't drill down far enough for you to know who's behind these. >> a second big headline from the papers a big, big investor rich investor in russia who has poured a lot of kremlin money into facebook and twitter, and some connection to jared kushner, the president's son-in-law. >> you're talking about jiri millner. he was involved in both of the deals in terms of the investment in facebook and twitter and separately, he also invested in one of jared kushner's companies called cadre, a tech investment company, real estate related and again here giving

well one senator richard blumenthal from the state of connecticut says that he believes that will ross did not. act truthfully when he was undergoing his confirmation hearing and should have been much more forthcoming ethics ask birds around the country have also said that even though. it's perhaps on realistic to expect an investor wilbur ross stature to know every single company and every single person involved in a company in which his private affairs would be doing investment they do say that he does have as a public servant a higher ethical standard to me now of course so the question will be whether or not this becomes a note of a political problem where wilbur ross might have to consider stepping aside but so far there's been no intimation of that here in washington are awesome thank you very much for that for now that's jordan with the latest from washington d.c. thank you. catalonians deposed president collins pushed him on has been released from police custody in belgium pushed him out and four of his former ministers handed themselves to police in brussels after spain issued

georgetown law center and of those alleged foundation for sponsoring this event also senator richard blumenthal we hope to hear from soon and also jaime who is a research fellow here georgetown and by personal locklear cantering a fabulous job and also the head of the institution in that you may have heard broke her leg when she and her child was shopping when shoplifter knocked them over down a flight of stairs. so of people could send her well wishes she is doing a fabulous job running the institute also other georgetown students and who will be helping today with logistics'. so let me step -- set the stage. whether we talking about? made the shares sinclair broadcasting group wants to buy tribune media company. it is seeking approval from the fcc and department of justice for the merger if consummated a result in sinclair owning 72 percent of american viewers. the next largest broadcaster would have 78 fewer stations. at the same time the sec will vote tomorrow to eliminate the ownership rules that tv radio and though local tv ownership rules they have already reinstated herbal with the uhf

speakers were vice president's and senator richard blumenthal who serves on the judiciary and commerce communities. the text that opposition to the merger. this was hosted by the georgetown law institute. >> good afternoon. welcome i'm so excited to see this crowd, to talk about the merger of the future media ownership. my name is gigi and i'm a fellow with the georgetown institute for technology. i want to thank a couple of folks, the institute for public representation which is part of georgetown law center, the benton foundation the mozilla foundation. also senator blumenthal of connecticut who your be hearing from soon and jamie was a research fellow at georgetown and alexander who is head of the institute for you may have heard she broke her leg when she and her son or daughter were shopping. a shoplifter knocked them over. i was in there the day before. anyway if you could send well wishes to her. also the other georgetown students gathered by andy, panelists helping today with logistics. the me set the stage. in may sinclair broadcast group announced its intention. it is seeking

richard blumenthal / connecticut (d)nobody should never say never in the us senate, when it is the right side of the issue and the right side of history, which a ban on assault weapons is. we had one for many years and it expired we should reinstate it. in the wake of the shootings in las vegas and texasrepublic an law makers say they don't think new lawssen. mike rounds / south dakota (r)youre not going to get the support to actually take out certain types of guns and say because it can hold more than so many bullets or because it's a particular style that somehow its more dangerous than others. alex limon tagthe bill grandfathers in people who already own the guns and accessories that would be bannedand it inclued exemptions for weapons specifically used for hunting. despite that it has a very slim chance at passing under the republican controlled congress. ( james ) house republicans are moving their tax proposal through the legislative process. and according to the congressional budget office ... the tax bill will add one-point-seven- trillion-dollars to the country's deficit. the bu

i also want to thank senator richard blumenthal, and i want to thank jamie who is a research fellow atrgetown and kind of my personal law clerk and doing a fabulous job. and alexander givens who's the head of the institute who some of you may have heard broke her leg when she and her son or daughter were shopping at h&m in friendship heights, a shoplifter knocked them over and down a flight of stairs. i was in that h&m, like, the day before. if people could send well wishes to alex, she's done a fabulous job running the institute. i also want to thank the other georgetown students gathered by andy schwartzman, one of our panelists, who are going to be helping today with various and sundry logistics. let me set the stage what are we talking about today. so in may of this year, sinclair broadcast group announced its intention to buy broadcast licenses of tribune media company. st seeking approval both from the federal communications commission and department of justice for the merger which, if consummated, will result in sinclair owning 233 stations covering 72% of american viewers. the

democrat chris murphy working together now on a deal to strike a deal and senators tim scott and richard blumenthalsing that effort. it is texas, connecticut, south carolina, connecticut again. we know the history in recent years of gun violence in those states. this in view of the recent outcry over a string of mass shootings going back to what happened in southeastern texas and also las vegas. we're watching it and see where it goes. 9:30 in new york. >> sandra: we're awaiting president trump's arrival on capitol hill this morning ahead of today's house vote on tax reform. the bill expected the pass in the house but faces a tougher road in the senate where republican senator ron johnson has come out publicly against it. senator lindsey graham saying the party cannot afford to fail. >> whatever is wrong with this bill we have to make it better. if we fail, we're dead. if you want to destroy the republican party, fail on tax cuts. we failed on healthcare. we'll try again. if we can't pass a tax cut this meaningful business and working men and women out there what good are we to the country and that

the -- republican from texas, are the main forces behind legislation that includes senator richard blumenthal. they are expected to pull more republican support before formally releasing it. it is now in focus, reiterating the requirements that federal agencies report infractions to .he criminal background check the deficiencies in the database have come into sharp focus -- host: we will look for legislation and news on that. john cornyn tweeting out last night a hint of what is to come -- "we're not doing enough to patch up the nics background check system." host: let's go to georgia and florida. a republican. george, good morning to you. what your thoughts on tax reform. tax reform -- progressive taxation kills me. it is a double jeopardy. if you divide the difference between civil maintenance, which i use the roads, and everything else, and entitlements and giveaways, the democratic party wouldn't exist. that is why they are all voting for the is this side of things -- business side of things to fund them, and that is who funds them. the more i pay, the less i am able to take in any other

there are calls now by senator richard blumenthal for an internal investigation by the inspector generalhis point are starting to call for this. we will see tomorrow when congress comes back in session and they are supposed to start looking at tax reform. kevin brady said don't worry. we have this covered. you might think there will be other calls given this will be a complicated fact. rishaad: it seems like it is getting complicated politically. is probably quite grateful to be out of washington, d.c. at this point. >> it is a distraction at this point. rishaad: what will he achieve their? >> already this morning he was talking about his meeting with prime minister shinzo abe in japan, had some tough words on trade, the japan needs to do more, that they don't make cars in the u.s. and need to be much more open. of course japan is still smarting from trump and the administration pulling the tpp, and they want broader access to u.s. markets. it looks like president trump is willing to consider that, but he wants a big give on the japanese side in opening for markets to the u.s. rishaad: t

senators involved chris murphy, richard blumenthal, tim scott, and dean.some who presumably have received support from the nra in the past looking to, you know, in light of these shootings, it's crafted to attempt to better enforce current law and strengthen the national background check. the nicks system that you referred to so people don't fall through the cracks. how do you feel about this bill. >> well, i like direction on this bill and the nra has fought for 20 years to make sure that states are compliant -- there have been numerous laws passed that have mandated that states submit felony convictions into these fbi databases that the system that the nra created checks. now, here's something i want everyone to consider. in 2012, you had what? about 80,000 individuals, roughly, who falsified their 4473s. guess how many in 2012, how many of those were prosecuted? only 44. and when you consider how you have about 38 states that submit less than 80% of all their felony convictions to these systems, guys, you have 7 million cases that you have out there. fe