that's tougher, i believe, than the toomey manchin bill. the house democrats are not going to be satisfied, nor some of the senate democrats nor the 2020 candidates are going to be happy with reviving toomey/manchin. i don't think it would pass the test. to do red flag laws state by state would be counterintuitive given the way that people travel across state lines. looking at what happened in texas. that wasn't across state lines but people travel distances with their weaponry. we're going to leave it there for you. >>> today is the first day of school in parkland, florida at marjorie stoneman douglas high school. 18 months after the mass shooting of course. victims included 14-year-old jamie gutenberg. her father, fred, has turned his grief into action for tougher gun laws. it's good to hear from you. first of all, what is your reaction to what the white house staff is at least discussing? >> hey, andrea. thank you for mentioning that in addition to being the first day today, it is also 18 months since my daughter's last day of school. we

if he does toomey manchin that might squeak by in pennsylvania, it raises the question of the true guneople. i got a brother one of these guys, i know them, and they're unforgiving and always liking for traitors and if they see trump for a traitor, bye bye pennsylvania. >> house democrat, they want to deal with the president they're calling a white supremacist, a lot of democrats are pressuring the leadership saying don't work with this president on the gun deal. it's not going to come out in our direction. >> the democrats wants issue too. >> they want reform, but they don't want to have a watered down deal. >> nobody wants something just like the calling out the one person who shouldn't be getting a gun. >> the policy needs to be proportionate. i have heard gun activists on the democratic side ban all assault rifles all together, i'm not in support of that. >> my guests are sticking with us. new reporting that president trump is lashing out being called, doesn't like that word racist. frustrating he can't shed the label. he didn't help his reputation with his attempt at foreign accen

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>> he's talking about manchin-toomey. ndsey graham is on air force one today and gave a pool report speaking to reporters saying we're not for manchin-toomey. >> they all voted against it. >> yeah, they all voted against it. and tom brasso was in the senate today because they were in a performance session. he said he's not for background checks or red flag. >> this is him. as for bipartisan background check legislation which he repeatedly voted against, he said i don't expect things have changed much. >> well, there's two points i want to make. trump will do whatever trump thinks he needs to do for his re-election and he won't care where the party goes. he'll do what he wants to do. you saw it for the 2018 election. he kept pushing the caravans and that was a disaster for house republicans. that was not the argument they needed to make going down the -- down to the election. >> right. >> the second part is look at the senate races in 2020. you have purdue in georgia, you have john cornyn in texas. these are not states -- t

what did he have to say about you trying to revive the toomey manchin bill? >> i've spoken with the president several times this week. and our conversations they're about what we can do and should do. i think the president is open to considering broadening background checks. wr we discussed various pe permutations. i won't get into the specifics of a private conversation, but i'll say the president is very much interested, he's listening. i think he wants to work with congress and accomplish something. >> well, that begs the question of what about wayne lapierre? there are reports he has spoken to the head of the nra. last time that happened the president backed off his prior support for background checks and for other action. he seems to not be solidly behind any one thing right now. do you have a better fix on that? >> i think the president is thinking through various options. there a lot of proposals, there's a lot of ideas out there. most of the discussions i've had with the president have focused on background checks and the manchin toomey legislation th

on right now are between three of the toews of three senators, one republican, pat toomey and two democrats, joe manchin and chris murphy all involved in gun issues before. toomey and manchin sponsored a background checks bill that failed in the wake of sandy hook shooting trying to figure out if there was a way to bridge the gap divisive over the last several decades when it comes to gun policy. i'm told there are no significant break through and aides say there is still significant skepticism of what will happen going forward. the big question now is where will president trump end up. for democrats purposes, one democrat told me today time is our enemy and that means they're ramping pressure up and just take a listen to what speaker nancy pelosi had to say today. >> we've sent our legislation to the senate, we sent our legislation to the senate. moscow mitch says that he is the grim reaper. imagine describing yourself as the grim reaper. that he's going to bury all of this legislation. well, we have news for him. all of this legislation is alive and well in the general public. >> wolf, the speaker tar

trump: we are looking at toomey-manchin. there are many bills put in over a period of four or five years. they went nowhere. there has never been a president like president trump. reporter: [indiscernible] pres. trump: i don't think we will need to. leadership is along with me right now. by the time we call them back -- they will be back anyway. i don't think we will need to call them back. i think we will have a good package by the time to come back and they can start debating and voting on it then. i don't really think with the extra little time, it matters. leadership is doing a really good job. mitch mcconnell, kevin, nancy. i spoke with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer yesterday. there is a lot of goodwill about this issue. reporter: [indiscernible] pres. trump: i don't think so. i think we have a lot of support. i'm very fortunate in the republican party. i am at 94% approval rating so that helps. i have a great relationship with the republican senators. they are looking to me to make this thing go and we will have great

universal background check, toomey, manchin, that would be great.e it and do a clip ban as well. i have seen this before. i have seen how it has played before. what will happen is there will be a universal background check bill that republicans will be able to support, mitch mcconnell can support, it will have all loopholes and poison pills in there. the thing that needs to happen it needs to be the manchin toomey bill for the bill that passed in the house. the nra is not the organization it once was, that's for sure. but it knows how to play this game. it will delay for a long time. >> yeah. >> and it will put things in the bill that only if you really understand the gun issue will you realize how damaging those pieces are. so we have got to make sure this is not a phony universal background check bill. you know, the president doesn't twist arms and tries to get something done. that could very easily happen. >> chris murphy, who has been talking about this since newton town when a lot of people thought things were actually going to get done said wh

and even if you talk about the manchin/toomey legislation after sandy hook which expanded backgroundcks to private gun shows an online but did not include the vast majority of private deals and exempted family transfers. there is still no indication that that bill has any greater chance of passing today. pat toomey the republican co-sponsor still thinks there is work to be done convincing hi -- his colleagues to come on board and democrats said the red flag bills proposed by republicans are too close because they don't require that states adopt them and frankly even some republicans are saying they don't want to touch this red flag legislation. so i don't think we're any closer to a deal and we have had this conversation many times before. >> and paul, if you look at president trump's tweets today in which he's attacking a cable news host, one of our colleagues, using the red flag law gamut, it doesn't seem to suggest a whole lot of seriousness about the red flag law given that he's just using it ten days after the horrific attacks to score political points. >> no. and i would have t

the democratic senator joe manchin, the republican pat toomey also say the president was receptive tobill to expand background checks. the white house says the president is considering executive actions and listening to legislative proposals. >> he mentioned some in his speech. we have talked to lawmakers already about some of the gun control legislation they have, whether it's the toomey/manchin bill, whether it's the red flag laws that we've talked about on multiple occasions. he's also talking about some of the loopholes that would have potentially stopped this tragedy. reporter: there are expected to be some protests in dayton tomorrow when the president arrives there, in el paso the congresswoman who represents that district, veronica escobar, a democrat and the former congressman, current presidential candidate beto o'rourke say the president in their view is not welcome there. no public events for president trump today. the white house says the president is getting ready for those two stops tomorrow. liz? liz: blake, thank you very much. dow jones industrials up 236 points. at

expected, the house democratic version of a background check bill, could you see a re-emergence of toomey/manchin? talking to people close to them, they think that ends up as the legislation, if any, on background checks, and the other piece that could be coupled with it is the red flag law which essentially gives federal authorities, local authorities protective measures to seize guns in someone's deemed a threat. >> let's talk about mitch mcconnell. he is home nursing a recently broken shoulder. he is home nursing what appear to be actual wounds from joe scarborough's birth of the phrase moscow mitch, something about russia, that was a new feeling for the senate majority leader. could it be that this man who also must get re-elected in kentucky to continue to be majority leader feels pressure? >> he doesn't feel pressure from his re-election campaign. he feels he's well positioned in a state president trump handily won. at the same time, when you interpret his language and position right now, you see a majority leader who knows so many of his lawmakers like corey gardner in colorado and susan c

heard over the weekend about the president talking about these issues with senator pat toomey, senator joe manchin, what are they endorsing when it comes to legislation? >> guest: to me and manchin are known for theirbackground checks legislation . this would be legislation close gun show loophole, close loopholes regarding internet firearms sales. right now you can purchase guns at those two venues and without going through a background check whereas if you go to a regular gun store, you need to go through a federal background check process and so these two senators, bipartisan senators in the wake of the sandy hook shooting and i believe it was 2012, these two senators came awful close to pushing something through the united states senate. a fellow six votes shy when it was all said and done and we have not seen real movement on any sort of major done reform legislation in the remaining years, even as we've seen a number of high profile shootings ranging from parkland to orlando to las vegas where the most lives were lost and so this is seen as a critical moment because it seems a number of amer

the real question is will he support the toomey/manchin bill? lead and state if he's for it or not. he'll punt on this and he'll say, you know, it's up to -- let congress pass a bill. he won't state what he's for. well, that's not leadership. he is simply surrendering his authority in this case to congress. if i were the president i would go after the low-hanging fruit, i would do universal background checks, red flag laws, raising the age legally at least for high-powered rifles to the age of 21. those are things that i think have broad support among the american public. now they can have a separate conversation about magazine capacity and semiautomatic so-called assault rifles. i voted for an assault rifle ban back when i was in the state legislature in 1994. that's a separate question. he's got to stand up and lead. he's got to state precisely what he's for. >> peter, we've seen some movement from republicans on gun control in the aftermath of el paso and dayton. is this an inflection point, do you think? do you sense a change in the party? >

they are still working to try and revive this toomey/manchin bill from 2013. that wouldn't go as far as democrats would like, but that's something they're pushing forward on. the president has to thread this fine political needle that his pr predecessors haven't been able to do. he's going to have to pull over if he wants to get past that 40% number. so, you know, in the moderates in the suburbs and the female populations they want to see something on gun control. the second amendment crowd has been so conditioned against anything that would limit gun purchases in any way that that's one of the things that, you know, would they abandon the president over it? probably not. would they be less enthusiastic, possibly. >> we're going to talk more about guns later on in the program. i want to get your thoughts about this. the political calculation for the president, shannon was saying it's energizing his base or trying to broaden his base. now the 2020 conversation that's getting more buzz than we were expecting are, in fact, the potential primary opponents that cou

senator graham spoke about a bill he's going to bring forward in the senate and sign the toomey-manchin. this moment is going to come and go, the grief, the sorrow, the tragedy. what will come of it? will there be lessons learned? i think most americans want to see action taken. if the president is going to lean forward and say i'm going to take these affirmative steps to make our community safer, leaving aside some of his rhetoric which i think even his supporters acknowledge can be problematic for him, that's what i think the american public wants to see. >> jon, i was in charleston, south carolina more than four years ago when president obama spoke in the wake of that terrorist attack at mother emanuel church. i want to remind folks what president obama said in the wake of that shooting. here is part of it. ♪ amazing grace ♪ how sweet the sound >> there's a man singing "amazing grace" to the country in the wake of a mass shooting. when you compare president obama's response to these horrible acts of violence, whether charleston, sandy hook, and then you compare this president's respo

i think we should do nothing less than the toomey/manchin bill which adds several other proposed piecesave with pat toomey to make sure local law enforcement is notified -- if a felon tries to buy, lie and try, if you try to buy a gun as a person prohibited state law enforcement would be notified. we need a strong package of several bills like that that would include the background check strengthening bill but frankly what's going to matter most what position the president finally takes with we come back into session after labor day and whether or not he's willing to stand up to the nra. >> where he seems to be right now, it's the extent you can discern this, it seems to be more enthusiasm on the president's part for a so-called red flag law, see again what the final readout is on background checks. but if the push from the administration is, hey, congress, pass a red flag law, if the push from republicans in the senate is, red flag law, is that something you could vote for if there were no other action on gun control or would you attach those two? would you say, i'm only going to vote

the question now is will president trump lend any political capital to toomey/manchin. they say that's the only thing that could move forward. >> i'm going to get killed here. very quickly, is anybody at the white house appalled that the president retweeted conspiracy theories involving jeffrey epstein? >> i reached out to everyone at the white house. no response, bottom line. everyone agrees the investigation has to move forward. >> the first big test for the barr justice department. when we come back, more with my sit-down with senator kamala harris and health care. >> in your plan, employers are for your heart... your joints... or your digestion... so why wouldn't you take something for the most important part of you... your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. ♪ i want it that way... i can't believe it. that karl brought his karaoke machine? ♪ ain't nothing but a heartache... ♪ no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds

reporter: do you support the toomey/manchin bill? >> we're looking at toomey/manchin. bills that have been put in over a period of four or five years. they went nowhere. but there's never been a president like president trump. reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i don't think we'll need to. i may. leadership is dealing along with me right now. by the time you call them back, they're going to be back anyway. i don't think we will need to call them back. i think we'll have a very good package by the time they come back and they can start debating and voting on it then. so i really don't think for the extra little time, it matters. leadership is doing a really good job. mitch mcconnell, kevin, nancy, i spoke with nancy pelosi yesterday, i spoke with chuck schumer yesterday. there's a lot of good will about this issue. reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i don't think so. no, no. i think we have a lot of support. i mean, i'm very fortunate, in the republican party i'm at 94% approval rating so that helps. but i have a great relationship with the republican senators and i really think they

one that includes the toomey-manchin bill and reciprocity, a lot of democrats will have a difficult time saying we'll take the background checks but we're going to make it so new york has to respect texas' gun laws. that would be to them a bridge too far in my estimation and that would be a crisis point for the party. they will have to say we can't vote for this background check legislation we've been touting for years because it includes this poisonous pill. >> it's a tough, tough issue. here's to hopefully the pressure actually staying high after the terrible tragedies that we've seen over the course of the last week. >>> we have a lot more to come tonight. the latest on the death of jeffrey epstein. just in, the medical examiner will not say how he died. ken littdilanian joins me. and later i will talk to bill de blasio from iowas as he makes s presidential bid. >>> and julian castro who talks about the massacre in his home state of texas. state of texas so i only pay for what i need. then i won the lottery, got hair plugs, and started working out. and so can you! only pay for what yo

there are other background checks, the manchin-toomey bill which is narrower than the house-passed billanchin-toomey bill has had its problems in the past and did not pass in the aftermath of the sandy hook massacre and failed in 2013. so what they can get behind remains to be seen. this chamber is in recess and there's no indication the republicans will come back and so this will not materialize until the fall session so it could take weeks and weeks to play out and the outcome of these bills certainly unknown. >> in the past those weeks and weeks have dropped the impetus, if you will, the political will to get it done. manu, appreciate that. >>> the former trump communications director, anthony scaramucci, is taking his spat with the president up a notch by comparing the president's tenure to the world's worst nuclear disaster. scaramucci says he no longer supports his former boss's bid for re-election and republicans should consider replacing him on the 2020 ticket. their predicament not unlike the one depicted in the hbo series "chernobyl" when soviet party bosses tried to cover up

we have confirmed that there are conversations going on among senators toomey and manchin.pearheaded the background bill after newtown. senator chris murphy made this a prominent part of his portfolio in the wake of the shootings in newtown with the senator from connecticut. so the question here in my mind and what really can make the difference is president trump. and he obviously is working with mitch mcconnell. he said again that he spoke to mcconnell. there are clearly new political impair actives in trying to hold onto the senate that could change the political dynamics here. but also keep in mind this is a republican president. and the republican party has shown to be time and time again incredibly loyal to president trump. and very often we talk about this in the context of, you know, republicans's refusal to criticize the president and at times when it seems as though they should be criticizing him. in this particular case it could potentially give a wider opportunity to actually do something on these gun safety bills. now, there are of course other forces on the pr

is he talking about the manchin/toomey bill that came up after the sandy hook massacre in 2012 which would have been expanded background checks to private sales, at gun shows, and online? he's certainly not talking about the house passed bill that makes background checks universal, which is what democrats are calling for. is it something in between? we just don't know what the president is prepared to support. and he has the bully pulpit at his disposal. on an issue that is as contentious as gun control, if the president were to build the case before the american public and really make a significant push on capitol hill, then maybe there would be the prospect of some movement, but that's just something he hasn't been willing to do so far. >> but if it couldn't happen in 2013 after the sandy hook massacre of little children and you now have a senate with 53 republicans -- you know, remember, back then when the legislation was put forth under the obama administration, you had four republicans vote for it in the senate and four democrats vote against it. is there any reason to believe t

there's been talk that manchin, toomey, and senator murphy of connecticut were at the white house withabout universal background checks for starters and perhaps more with red flag laws. do you see in your conversations with your fellow senators some hope that maybe there will be some movement here? >> i think there's some hope because of the way the american people have organized on this issue in the last three years or so. it's making a difference, and politicians can't escape from the moms, they can't escape from the parkland kids, and these background checks that mitch mcconnell is holding up on the senate floor, we passed in colorado almost 20 years ago after columbine. we're a western state. we're a second amendment state, passed it almost 20 years ago. i hope he'll put it on the floor right when we get back, and it would be great to see everybody in the senate have to walk down there and vote on bedding checks. >> why do you feel like it would be different this time? >> i didn't say it would be different. i said i hope it would be different. >> do you have any reason to believe i

. >> and you had joe manchin who talked to folks in your paper, who was part of the manchin-toomey bill. he said if you don't stand up and say this is a piece of legislation i'm going to support we're not going to get enough cover to have republicans stand tall. they won't bow abe able to do i. of course he's saying trump should give these folks cover. the nra a major factor. when you start to look at the numbers, what republicans can you imagine voting for a background check, even given the fact that lots of republican average voters actually support it, heather. >> i think the house passed its version of the universal background checks earlier this year. it was a very middle ground version. democrats' whole goal was to pass something that republicans would support. only eight crossed the aisle and supported it. mcconnell hasn't said publicly but said through his allies this week we do not have the votes for this. i will not bring it up until we have the votes. we are unlikely to have the votes. >> maybe there's a smaller version of gun control or something like red-flag laws or someth

how is the manchin or toomey bill, how is it different from the house version?ll, jake, one of the main differences is that we're going after commercial gun sales. so we think that there should be a background check for all commercial gun sales but a private transaction between family members or friends, we would not require a background check for those kinds of transactions. the house bill is much broader and it's virtually universal with very few exceptions is my understanding. >> you and senator manchin were on this show pushing a similar bill on the floor of the senate back in 2013 after the tragedy of newtown. it did not pass. you and senator susan collins i believe are the only republicans who voted for it back in 2013 who are still in the u.s. senate. do you think it could pass now? do you think you could get more republicans? >> jake, i hope we can. and i hope it can pass. you know, um, it's true susan and i are the only two republican senators remaining who voted for it but i think that the sentiment has changed somewhat. and maybe it is just the accumu

seems to me that the way forward here is if people who are -- whether it's joe manchin or pat toomeyo enough colleagues that it's in their interests to get on board with this, let's just for the purposes of this conversation let's leave aside that it's the right thing to do, as john kennedy said, there's a reason profiles encouraged was just one volume. there are not a lot of examples out there. but in this climate, in these -- in a place and states where, in fact, they need to reach suburban folks, then perhaps this is the way to do it. the ambient shift on this is, i think, really interesting. because, you know, so many of us go to our kids' schools now and there are armed guards. you hear people talk about the dangers. and one of the things that someone made the point over the el paso and dayton days, it's not original with me, said no one sesame more i didn't think it could happen here. >> yeah. >> and that is an ambient difference. >> i think john is pointing out something important. and it is this growing sentiment within the country even among gun owners that something needs t

we know toomey, joe manchin anderts have had a direct conversation with the president. we also know that aides for members have having discussions with white house officials but these are informational at this point. and we should be careful looking at how serious these are because behind the scenes we're told republicans have deep concerns about background checks being floated and concerns about red flag proposals because of some due process issues. so there are concern among republicans even though the president is both publicly and privately pushing to expand background checks that may not be something enough republican senators may actually support. i'm hearing from aides that these conversations are happening, but we should be careful insert of putting too much stock in them. in part because members are on recess. until they get back from recess and are in washington together, it's hard to say how they cut a deal. and i will tell you it's unclear if the momentum to do something on guns will even be there when they get back in september. >> i appreciate the reportin

able to get a background check bill passed at the federal level for the first time since the manchin/toomey bill. that bill is sitting on mcconnell's desk waiting for a vote. >> you mentioned background checks. the "washington post" reported after president trump publicly expressed for book ground chiefs that wayne lapierre called the president to tell him it would not be popular among trump supporters. i'm curious if you think in your five years with moms, do you think the nra has been weakened? do you think wayne lapierre has the president's ear the same way as in the past? >> honestly, i think we have the nra on the run a little bit. the vast majority of people stand with us on background checks. wayne lapierre may not agree, but most of his members do. we need the senate ma krjority leader and we need president trump to listen to us. >> thank you. >> you got it. >>> sources telling us the white house pushed back on efforts by homeland security officials to make threats from white supremacists and domestic terrorists a greater priority. first heart wrenching videos of children crying for

president has talked to joe manchin and pat toomey. il. interested in what lindsey graham is putting forward for red flag law to get the lunatic in 11th grade that has the kill list on the wall in the bathroom. want to make sure he doesn't get a gun. how do we do that? let's see if there is a logical way forward there and nancy pelosi says we are ready to go back after the senate goes back. ainsley: chilling the mom and el paso shooter called police a few weeks ago as we were mentioning at the top of the show because she was worried about her son having this ar. pete: we just learned we actually did get a statement from twitter about mitch mcconnell's official campaign account being suspended. it says the user was temporarily locked out of their account for a tweet that violated our violent threats policy specifically threats involving. brian: the user, senator mitch mcconnell's office? the user? really? by retweeting annual attack on him, he gets suspended. pete: yeah. as you said vile stuff you read on twitter people say towards mitch

. >> first of all i'm working with senator pat toomey and joe manchin and with the white house on making sure that we closed some loopholes in the background check system to ensure people with criminal records who are mentally ill cannot purchase firearms. that's something we ought to be able to unite around. i'm not talking about restrictions on family members, i wouldn't support for example the house passed bill. it is overreached, it goes too far. but if we can come together working with president trump, working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and to say if you advertise the sale of a firearm over the internet, there should be a background check, that makes sense to me. >> martha: do you think the president will stick with this? what we've seen too many times, people say this is the moment because of dayton and el paso but i have said if it wasn't the moment after sandy hook, why should anyone believe once a few weeks passed, it doesn't go awa away? >> the president has been engaged and he has talked to senator mcconnell who has indicated a willingness to bring that bill to

we can report that senators joe manchin, a democrat, senator chris murphy a democrat, and pat toomey a republican have been in talks with the white house on subjects that include expanding background checks. now one word of warning, don't get overexcited. just because they're talking doesn't necessarily mean there is progress. white house aides are expected to visit new jersey soon and brief the president on where all these discussions are going. now, the president has claimed over the last few days that mitch mcconnell may be in favor of background checks expanding background checks. but. he may be confused. because republican aides say mitch mcconnell say he has not endorsed any gun legislation. >> maybe this time will be different. this comes as police in dayton, ohio, release chilling new surveillance video and a detailed timeline of the gunman carrying out his massacre. he shot 26 people in 32 seconds. let's get right to cnn's ryan young. he is live in dayton with the latest. what have you learned? >> reporter: tough to watch. you can see how police were able to stretch all this

republican said that a background checks measure based on the bill written by senators pat toomey and joe manchin and a national red flag bill are both unlikely to pass. he was open to gop senator lindsey graham's bill that would establish a red flag grant program but said the senate would need to attach with those grants' very strict guidelines in terms of due process. back with us tonight, two former members of congress, donna edwards, former democratic member from the great state of maryland who is these days a "washington post" columnist, and david jolly, former republican member of congress from the great state of florida who has since left the republican party. good evening to you both. congresswoman, i would like to begin with you. phil bump over at the "washington post" did a study of the limits of our concern. the end date of our concern over things like mass shootings. here it is. "our analysis of the aftermath of recent high-profile mass shootings suggests that interest in addressing the problem tapers out after about three weeks or this week relative to the massacre in el paso." as mu

are we going to see legislation like the manchin-toomey bill that calls for stronger background checks actually make it through to the president's desk? >> i was on the lawn this morning when the president said he was hoping to get people to do things that they haven't done in the past. that would, of course, include his own party. republicans have usually been the ones to not want to talk about changing a lot of gun laws. i remember covering newtown, connecticut, the shooting in pittsburgh at the synagogue and people feeling like those events might change something. not much has changed from those things. i think there's a lot of people who are hopeful this might be a moment because this was such a gruesome weekend of back-to-back tragedies taking place, that maybe that will shock the consciousness. i think representative turner coming out saying i'm going to be supporting a ban of assault weapon, shows a republican with a high rating from the nra saying, i want to change things here. his daughter was closs to the shooting. people on the ground in dayton, having been there just a few

toomey and manchin. that bill passed the house and is sitting on his doorstep. other one is the closing the charleston loophole, and in case you forget what that was, because the word "loophole" sounds so nice and sweet, that is not it at all. that was a white nationalist went into an african-american church, and gunned down the people. why did he have the gun? because they did a background check, and the rule was you only have three days to do it. they could not catch his conviction in three days, and he was able to get the gun. if they went up to 10 days, they believe they would have caught it, if you can believe this. that is the second bill. the third is my bill, and that is for serious domestic abusers -- right now, if they get convicted of domestic abuse against a wife or a husband, then they cannot go out and get an ak-47. but if it is against a girlfriend that they don't live with, they can. and yet half of the homicides have involved non-dating partners, basically. dating partners, basically. that is what this bill is, in addition to stalking provisions

will it be the manchin-toomey bill of a few years bag that died in the senate of the obama presidency? will it be something different, perhaps something weaker that would be more appealing to the republicans in the senate. and it's unclear also how much momentum president trump is willing to put behind it. he said what he said at the white house but he said it as he was departing for a week-long vacation at hi gos golf club inw jersey. the senate is out for the entire month of august. it's not clear where the leadership and momentum to do something will come from in the next few days. >> joyce, if you have 80% or 90% of the american people behind something, you have cross pressure for this president among his base, that includes some people in the trump base. and film rucker saphil said thee details. a lot of people think the devil is in congress. here's what politico wrote, trump quietly used regulations to expand gun access. federal agencies implemented more than half a dozen policy changes, changes that primarily through little notice, rel latory moves expand access to guns by lift

safe again, you have got to have the building blocks of a background check and especially our manchin/toomey bill that i wrote way back in 2013. it started with the premise that a law-abiding gun owner, chris, is not going to sell their gun to a stranger, someone who is mentally deranged or someone with a criminal background. we're not taught that way. don't you think we should take any commercial transaction must have a background check, any internet sell, anything commercially where you don't know somebody -- >> right. >> that's the building block. if he can't do that, they're not going to take us seriously about anything, chris. >> so let's take it to the next level of this. why would hi back off? what can wayne lapierre tell him in a phone call that would make him push back on all of the other political pressure? >> well, i don't know. i haven't talked to him in a week or so. i'm sure we'll be talking in a week or so. last time i talked to the president, i said, mr. president, i'm a life member of the nra, a lifetime member. okay? when i joined and the purpose of the nra was to teach the

we've been talking about manchin-toomey. the two senators, they introduced a bill, background checks on all commercial sales of guns including those at gun shows and on the internet. this measure failed in the senate. here is senator toomey prior to that vote. >> the second thing, we ask you have background checks at gun shows. we already have them if you buy from a licensed dealer. who buyslvania, anyone a handgun anywhere at anytime has a background check. , it wouldwould do extend background checks for commercial sales which are conducted at gun shows. and for advertised sales over the internet. now, i've got to tell you, there is absolutely no way that this can be construed as an infringement on the second amendment rights. and you don't have to take my word for this. scaliaould take justice word for this in the heller decision where he quite rightly came to the decision, as did a majority of the supreme court, a conservative majority came to the correct conclusion, in my view, that the second amendment is an individual

over the past several days, he's repeatedly called democrat joe manchin and republican pat toomey.ir background check bill narrowly failed in 2013. >> the president is open to this conversation. he has initiated this conversation in some cases. >> not one more! >> reporter: and the pressure is mounting. more than 200 mayors from both parties sent a letter to senate leaders urging them to call the senate back to session now to vote on two background check bills that passed the house in bi february. those bills would close loopholes for sales at gun shows tsd on the internet. in a radio interview this afternoon, the senate's erpublican leader, mitch mcconnell, said gun control legislation will be on the agenda after august recess. >> we're going to have these bipartisan discussions, and when we get back, hopefully be able to come together and actually pass something. >> o'donnell: nancy cordes is on ilpitol hill tonight. and, nancy, the president, after parkland, promised tougher background checks and then he reneged on those promises. given the politics on capitol hill, how much of

he should look to pat toomey, who teamed with joe manchin several years ago around background checks.ntee you if pat toomey were sitting here, he got reelected because he basically demonstrated to be constituency in pennsylvania that's not as conservative as he is that he stood for something that they didn't. >> melissa: then why don't two legislators get to together ano that now? >> richard: they are, but they are getting mixed signals from the white house. one day he says, "i'm with you," the next day he says is mental health. the whole world has metal health problems. only one has these shooting problems. >> lisa: that there is nothing in the background that would have prevented them from being able to purchase weapons? i think that's a bigger challenge and a lot of these instances. also a lot of these members of congress aren't just looking at the national polling, they are looking at the polling in their states among their base. you can look at a state like alabama that has a different viewpoint on guns than a state like california, which represents the challenge and looking at a

toomey's that died in the senate. >> i have been on the phone all weekend with my republican colleagues in the senate to get some version of manchinhave not given up on that. i was litter will he emailing from my car before walking into the studio with one republican member. i'm interested in moving forward the recent extreme protection orders. but if it's just incentive grants to the states, i'm not sure it will tip the balance in any meaningful way. we will work all weekend to find a common ground background check. honestly if the republicans don't embrace the background checks, republicans will not break on them. i have a feeling his tweet the other day was deliberate and he decided once again to stay in bed with the national rifle association. >> senator, it's kathy kay here. on the issue of red flags, i was wondering if you could clarify whether that would have made a difference in the case of sandy hook and whether you think the problems the nra has been having, oopyou mentioned the ri of the nra gun control lobby, does that make them a more diminished force than it was after new town? >> these extremist protection orders do

describes as informational, not substantive, involves staffers for republican senator pat toomey and democrats joe manchinhe end republicans aren't going to support background checks legislation unless the president supports it. i remain pessimistic that that is how this will play out. >> reporter: with the august recess dragging on, other democrats on capitol hill are also skeptical. one democratic aide saying, i don't feel like they're any more serious than the last ten conversations on guns. >> there is a strong pull -- >> reporter: the president's daughter ivanka trump has been actively involved. having several conversations with lawmakers about gun policy this week. and white house aides are expected to update president trump later this week on any progress from these gun talks. president trump has told his advisers in recent days that he does want to take a concrete step and do something meaningful, not just something that is symbolic, according to people familiar with the matter. so, jake, it remains to be seen if that will actually happen. >> pamela brown traveling with the president in new jersey

and of course there's manchin and toomey.ng support for background checks. mcconnell has vowed to pass something. well, we don't know what that is. so is this the moment and what will the moment look like? joining me now is somebody who has had this experience of dealing with the aftermath of gun violence all too often in her state. and that is florida congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. congresswoman, good to see you. >> you too, chuck. thank you. >> so, first i want to get into the legislative back and forth that's coming. you have heard what mitch mcconnell said. the fact that he said they have to pass something is him moving the ball somewhere. the question is is it the democrat house strategy to wait to see what he does, or do you pass even more bills to send to him, or do you say we passed our bill. if you want to pass something and we can, you know, how a bill becomes a law, we'll go to committee and see what happens. what is the democratic strategy here? >> well, i mean, i think the way we need to approach this is

even manchin and toomey expanded them but didn't make them universal and if the president won't use the bully pulpit at his disposal to make the case to the american public, you wouldn't see any meaningful action and that is why we've been down this road so many times and with president trump the fact he's in frequent communication with the nra, which is explicitly made clear its opposition to universal background checks, i don't think we'll see anything change. >> i'm old enough to cover columbine and we talked about the gun show loophole which is the debate over universal background checks checks back then in 1999. do you think something will happen? >> look, the discussion has not changed that much in 20 years, right. and that is the sad part. there are many things, that we know the answer if you want to solve that problem but congress doesn't want to address that issue in that way. the president is speaking less about gun control than he did a year and a half ago, if not more. and that suggests that you're not necessarily going to see the president rushing to take that bully pulpit

in the senate, in 2013, there was this effort, the lastou ses bipartisan effort with manchin and toomeylican democratic senator, and that was after sandy hook, that was thelosest they've come and couldn't overcome a filibuster. toomey, the senator from pennsylvania said he wants to backws this and bring tha and, yet, he doesn't actually want the senate to come back into session ri aty because he doesn't think it has the votes. >> woodruff: could this be the impetus, amy, to change in some thway what status quo is? >> you had the president today saying we needn biparti and unity. the ship has sailed on that. he's calling for uty yet that's not what he practices from his bully pulpit. that has not been his administration at all. so you can't now, two years in, after running as incredibly divisive administration and the rhetoric that has come from the white house to say, well, now we're going to come together and change this. the thing, too about this bipartisan bill that passed tño' house, 8 republicans supported it, 2 democrats voted against it. in 1994 when they passed the ban, 38weapon

between white house officials and the staff of these senators, democrats chris murphy and joe manchin and pat toomey. let's start there. with me now april bryan, who is correspondent for urban radio networks, and jeff mason covers the white house for reuters. >> hi, brooke. >> when you hear that these talks are informal and not substantive, according to one official. how serious are these conversations? >> not substantive is the key piece right there. we've been hearing about these talks forever. i've been in washington for 22 years, there were shootings, columbine, so many things that happened. they were talking about closing the gun show loophole. now hr-8 that is in the house, is to close the gun show loophole as well as the online loophole for buying guns. we're talking about assault weapons bans. it's a lot about a lot that's not moving. the problem is people are dying and hr-8 has passed in the house, but the senate won't do it. not only that, you have the nra that is telling the president no. remember parkland? the president was all for background checks when he heard the people in that town

maybe have this conversation when we come back, at least that's happening, but remember, when manchin and toomeys a smaller bill about background checks about sandy hook, four republicans voted for it in the senate, two of those republicans are not in the senate anymore. the question is: how much money does the n.r.a. raise out of this and how scared are republicans to actually have this conversation? >> brennan: we didn't hear from congressman scalise, who is the whip, really any promise of anything that would be voted for. he seemed to say there are a lot of tools already there that just need to be used better by law enforcement. >> i think the question is very much open. will attention stay on this issue as it suggested or does the circus move on to the next town. one of the things that might be different is that for years and years and years, the passion on the gun issue was on the pro gun side, not the people who favored gun control. people who wanted guns were more passionate about that issue than e her t.t in we'llfind o now fo sure whether that's the case or not. this is not really a com