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Students Demand Action Against Gun Violence: Now What?; New Trump Lawyer's Role on Legal Team in Flux; Crowds Rally to Stop Gun Violence Around the World; WaPo: Stormy Daniels Says Porn Prepared Her for Scrutiny. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired March 25, 2018 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[07:00:00] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Ryan Nobles has more on the momentum behind the movement and what comes next.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN NOBLES, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Victor and Christi, organizers were expecting a good turnout at these rallies. Not just here in Washington but all across the country. But what ended up happening on Saturday defied their wild expectations.

(voice-over): On a day filled with loud cries.

CROWD: We want action! We want action! We want action!

NOBLES: Powerful songs.

And energizing speeches.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are not here for bread crumbs. We are here for real change.

NOBLES: It may have been the sound of silence that best captured the moment.

Emma Gonzalez, a young woman, who has become one of the most recognized faces out of the movement born out of the massacre that took place in the halls of her school stood stone-faced and silent.

EMMA GONZALEZ, STONEMAN DOUGLAS STUDENT: Six minutes and about 20 seconds. In a little over six minutes, 17 of our friends were taken from us.

NOBLES: Gonzalez and a cadre of her friends from Marjory Stoneman Douglas students took their pain and turned into action, that culminated in marches and rallies all over the world.

From Boston.

To Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The violence that they experience every day!

NOBLES: Denver. To Los Angeles.

And back to Parkland, Florida, where the shooting took place.

CROWD: Enough is enough!

NOBLES: While they may have only had each other when those shots rang out, they had the supports of hundreds of thousands, including celebrities.

PAUL MCCARTNEY, MUSICIAN/ACTIVIST: One of my best friends was killed in gun violence right around here. So, it's important to me.

NOBLES: Pop stars.

And even the granddaughter of a civil rights icon.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: I have the dream that enough is enough!

(CHEERS)

And that this should be a gun-free world, period!

NOBLES: Their hope is to do much more than march. They want action, specifically, stricter gun laws. Something the federal government has been reluctant to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand for us or be aware. The voters are coming!

NOBLES: And the debate over guns remains divisive. Counter rallies were held in cities like Boston and Salt Lake City, but these students hope this movement is different, that common ground will be reached and they are warning their leaders they won't be giving up until they get the change they are looking for.

(on camera): The message from many of these students, they don't want these rallies to be the end of their work but the beginning instead. And many of them say they're prepared to become politically active and prepared to vote in what will be the first election for many of them this fall. In fact, many of these students said before they were a part of this tragedy, politics was something they never thought about. Now, it's become one of their biggest priorities -- Christi and Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Ryan, thank you so much.

Now, the White House praised the marchers and students for their rallies, saying keeping children safe is the president's top priority.

PAUL: It's the White House. We haven't heard specifically from the president necessarily. We know that he is wake. He's tweeting from his Florida resort this morning.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live in Washington. Good morning, Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. And don't worry, I have my phone out in case we do hear from the president, and I'll let you know.

But right now, he is honoring a soldier who died in the France ISIS attack. He is talking about the wall. He's talking about DACA, and blaming Democrats on that.

But again, nothing yet on these historic marches we saw yesterday. And while these hundreds of thousands of people were in Washington, he was in Florida at Mar-a-Lago, just about 35 miles away from where that Parkland massacre happened, and nothing from him on the marches.

But we did get this statement from the White House and we're going to pull it up for you so I can read it. It says, we applaud the many courageous young Americans exercising their First Amendment rights today, keeping our children safe is a top priority of the president, which is why he encouraged Congress to pass the Fix NICS and STOP School Violence Acts, and signed them into law.

Additionally, on Friday, the Department of Justice issued the rule to ban stocks following through on the president's commitment to ban bump stocks following through on the president's commitment to ban devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machines guns.

And just to note there, the bump stocks are the attachment to firearms that turn semiautomatic weapons into automatic weapons which were used in Vegas, but not in the Parkland massacre. It should be noted this isn't what these kids are asking for. They are asking for a ban on assault-style weapons. They are asking for a ban on high capacity magazines for ammunition. And they are asking for everyone who buys a gun to get a background check.

Now, at the beginning shortly after the shooting, President Trump indicated that he might do something with assault weapons saying that he might raise the age limit. It's currently 18, to 21. But backed away from that, instead creating a federal school safety commission.

[07:05:04] But, again, we'll be watching this very closely. These were historic marches and it seems as though it is the beginning of a movement.

BLACKWELL: All right. Kristen Holmes in Washington for us -- Kristen, thanks so much.

PAUL: With us now, deputy managing editor at "The Weekly Standard", Kelly Jane Torrance, former chairman of the D.C. Democratic Party and chair of the National Bar Association Pac, A. Scott Bolten, and CNN political commentator and former senior advisor to the Trump campaign, Jack Kingston.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Jack, as we see the power of what we saw yesterday, do you have a sense of how the Republican Party is going to deal with this, balance this as we head into midterms?

JACK KINGSTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't. I think that the Republican Party should have something to balance this. Of course, they have already taken legislative action with the Fix NICS bill, the violence against -- the reform of school violation bill that was just signed into law, the banning of bump stocks, and allowing CDC to look at gun control. So, there's already been significant steps on a federal level. States will start taking their other steps.

But I think that the Republican Party knows this is a political movement and sees a lot of energy and passion in young America that they need to get in there and counterbalance and say, well, listen. Do you really want to repeal part of your constitutional rights? Should you, for example, know what an assault weapon actually is? Should you know what the gun stats really are as compared to what you think they are? Should you know how many shootings have been in schools?

In other words, what I think we do need to move -- and this is not just Republicans. But I think it's society to say, look, listen, this is real passion and there is a real problem, but let's have a real debate with real facts to effect real policy. I don't think we are there yet.

BLACKWELL: Real facts, passion, energy, political movement. Scott, let me come to you.

A. SCOTT BOLDEN, FORMER DC DEMOCRATIC PARTY CHAIRMAN: Please come to me! Please!

BLACKWELL: That is what Jack says, the Republican Party says. Let me read to you what the NRA said. Gun-hating billionaires and Hollywood elites are manipulating and exploiting children as part of their plan to destroy the Second Amendment and strip us of our rights to defend ourselves and our loved ones.

BOLDEN: You're saying that to the carnage of Parkland and hundreds of other mass shootings because of assault rifles. You know, we know assault rifle bans work from the '90s because it was never to end gun violence. It was to end the carnage by the assault rifle bans.

Jack, we don't need more rhetoric. We need reality.

KINGSTON: You got it signed into law.

BOLDEN: We didn't get enough signed into law. The president would not raise the age limit for even owning a gun and we know that would have prevented, at least I think it would have prevented parkland because the shooter was 19. It should be 21.

The rhetoric the president when he meets with the victims is one thing and the rhetoric he has the next day after he meets with the NRA is completely different. He didn't raise it. He may do the bump stocks, don't get me wrong, but there are thousands of other loopholes he could close.

It's not about owning a gun --

KINGSTON: It's all about guns.

BOLDEN: It's not about a gun or not. I don't want to take away gun rights. It's about gun control, reasonable gun control and how come I can't be a gun rights advocate and a gun control advocate at the same time? I can.

Republicans and the NRA lumped them together and assume as you want to do gun control, then they say you want to give up my Second Amendment right. It's about people dying. It's not about constitutional rights. So, stop melding those two together and get some reality in your rhetoric!

BLACKWELL: I want to point out here and, Christi, I know you got to follow here.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Hold on. Let me point out the president will need some congressional partners to go to a lot of this stuff do not.

KINGSTON: If I could say real quickly.

BOLDEN: He can do it with political will. That's for sure.

KINGSTON: Scott, last you were bragging, rightfully, you were bragging about the congressional victory in Pennsylvania. That was a pro-gun candidate. You guys are going to have a problem. When you had the majority, House, Senate and Barack Obama in the White House, you did not do gun control bans that you're now calling for.

Your latest candidate ran on a pro-gun platform. There is a lot of discussion here.

BOLDEN: This isn't a Republican issue. It's a Democrat and Republican issue.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: But, listen, just this morning, just a little while ago, the NRA released a press statement and the headline is, NRA applauds Trump for leadership and securing schools and strengthening criminal background checks.

Kelly Jane, your reaction to the NRA this morning applauding President Trump?

KELLY JANE TORRANCE, DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Yes. They are, obviously, in a very difficult spot right now politically, and so, they are realizing they might have to settle for some legislation that they don't like. But, you know, Scott is right. Why can't somebody want reasonable measures on guns and still believe in the Second Amendment?

[07:10:05] The problem is a lot of people are calling for some of these laws, they do ultimately want to ban guns and a lot of people in America who own guns know that. And so they are -- you know, when they start hearing these things, they know that some of those people do want to ban guns. So, laws that are completely reasonable, as Scott says, they don't support them because they think, hey, that is just the first step to you trying to take away my guns.

And, of course, not everybody calling for these reasonable measures like, you know, background checks. That seems pretty reasonable. What is the problem there? Although one of the problems is some of these people shouldn't have passed background checks that did.

You know, we are hearing from a lot of these shootings like someone called the FBI and said, hey, this guy is messed up, I'm worried he is going to shoot up a school and they ignored it.

But the problem is there are some people who do want to get rid of guns and because, you know, gun owners know that, they are nervous about anything that they think is going to lead to that. And so, you do have a split in America and like said this candidate was pro-gun. That is the thing people see it as a black and white issue, you're either pro-gun or anti-gun and to me, that's not the right way to talk about this.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDEN: That dialogue has to change though, Victor, because what do I need an assault rifle for other than target practice?

KINGSTON: You can't have one.

BOLDEN: No, hold on --

KINGSTON: Scott, assault rifles are against the law right now. That just shows --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: We can't hear both of you at the same time.

KINGSTON: -- is a cosmetic rifle that looks like an assault rifle doesn't make an assault rifle. The military --

BOLDEN: It doesn't matter!

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDEN: A weapon -- no, listen to me.

KINGSTON: Come on, Scott. Come on.

BOLDEN: Listen, weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass destruction, there's no purpose other than target practice and you can own one and keep it at the gun shop, because otherwise, it's a weapons of mass destruction and you have carnage of young kids all around this country. The killing fields of Chicago and the killing fields of Parkland, there's no difference. KINGSTON: Scott, Scott, OK. So what you just said is that the

national policy should be that if I'm buying an AR-15, which is not an assault rifle, but I should be required as an American citizen to keep that at the gun dealer and check it out and use it for target practice and --

BOLDEN: If you keep it at your home, lock it up. We infringe on amendments all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Let me ask you a question here, because the topic of this conversation is really about this march we saw and the movement led by the students out of parkland and now spread around the world.

Scott, let me take you back to 2000. The country has been at this moment before. It was the year after Columbine, the beginning of this school shooting era that we are living in now. There was the Million Moms March, 750,000 people in Washington, hundreds of thousands of people across the country. It was an election year. Gun control advocates expected that this would be the watershed moments. Democrats thought this would lead to major electoral turnover in November of 2000.

Bush won the election, the needle didn't move. That movement did not live up to its potential. Why is this expected to be any different?

BOLDEN: Well, same expectation as they had in all of those prior movements. The reality is this, Victor. For it to have legs the real work starts post of this march, after this march. You got to organize and register people to vote and then you got to get them to the polls to vote and run candidates who are not beholden to the NRA and those who care more about gun control, reasonable gun control and not about the NRA and their monies.

Attorney general thing you got to do is you got to replace the NRA money that makes candidates beholden to the NRA and replace that money with something and then make it unpleasant for every elected official to take money from the NRA.

(CROSSTALK)

TORRANCE: Are they beholden to the NRA?

PAUL: Let's give Kelly Jane one last word.

TORRANCE: Yes. Are they beholden to the NRA and their money or are they beholden to some places in America? Their constituents feel very strongly about this issue. I mean, we're sort of forgetting. We live here in Washington, D.C., we're in a bit of bubble. We forget, there are parts of America where they feel very strongly about this. And people keep saying beholden to the NRA, and maybe there's a bit to truth to that, but they're also beholden to their constituents and they're worried about the votes, and in some places in America, people feel very strongly about this.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Kelly Jane, you're offering -- hold on hold on! Kelly Jane, you're offering that comment from Washington. Christi and I are sitting in Georgia so we understand the sentiment you're sharing this.

We've got to wrap it there. I just wonder, we've been at this moment before. Eighteen years ago, we saw a huge turnout for gun control in the nation's capital and that essentially went nowhere. Where does this go? How will this be different?

Kelly Jane, Scott, and Jack, thank you so much.

BOLDEN: Thank you.

PAUL: Thank you, folks.

[07:15:01] So, the Stormy Daniels saga, it continues tonight with potential new details about her alleged affair with the president and the efforts to silence her. What can we expect to learn from this tell-all?

BLACKWELL: Plus, the new role of the president lawyer on President Trump's legal team is still in question. We will have more questions on who Joseph diGenova is, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Veteran Washington attorney Joseph DiGenova's role as part of President Trump's legal team, it's still in question according to two sources familiar with the matter. His hiring was announced last Monday. He met the president Thursday.

One source said the president is not convinced he's right for the job, however.

Here is CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSEPH DIGENOVA, PRESIDENT TRUMP LAWYER: They didn't like Donald Trump. They didn't think he was fit to be president.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Joe DiGenova, a regular TV pundit and the man President Donald Trump is adding to his legal team in the Russia probe. He's the same Joe DiGenova who has, in recent months, pushed the theory that the FBI and the Justice Department were working to frame Trump, fabricating the Russia investigation in an effort to keep Trump out of the Oval Office.

[07:20:09] Evidence to support that theory is scant, yet still his notion is based in part on thousands of text messages exchanged between two FBI officials.

DIGENOVA: Everything that we have seen from these texts and from all the facts developing shows that the FBI and senior DOJ officials conspired to violate the law and to deny Donald Trump his civil rights.

KAYE: DiGenova is just one of the conservative TV personalities Trump has brought onboard. He joins former CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow and former Fox Anchor Heather Nauert, now fourth in line at the State Department, not to mention all the other Fox anchors Trump leans on for advice.

(on camera): DiGenova and his wife, meanwhile, have their own law firm in Washington, D.C. Before opening the firm, he served as the U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia. Most of his focused has been on cases involving corruption and fraud.

(voice-over): The hiring of DiGenova may all be part of a more aggressive approach. DiGenova is expected to engage the media and mount a strong defense of the president. Often DiGenova delivers personal attacks, sounding a lot like the president himself.

Listen.

DIGENOVA: The FBI has lost almost all of its credibility and regrettably its integrity as a result of the conduct of James Comey, who remains America's most dirty cop. Whatever you make think of Loretta Lynch, and she was a lowly, lowly attorney general by virtue of her conduct.

KAYE: Like Trump, one of diGenova's favorite targets is Hillary Clinton.

DIGENOVA: There was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton, and if she didn't win the election, to then frame Donald Trump with a falsely created crime.

KAYE: He slammed President Barack Obama too.

DIGENOVA: He has become a man drunk with power, abusive of the Constitution, and lawless.

KAYE: Back in 1997, Joseph DiGenova once wrote a "Wall Street Journal" op-ed related to then-President Bill Clinton, saying an independent counsel should not be reluctant to prosecute based on some vague concept of Presidential immunity, adding: it would teach the valuable civics lesson that no one is above the law -- words that may come back to haunt him and his client.

Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Let's bring in Michael Moore, a former U.S. attorney for the middle district of Georgia.

Good to have you back.

So, the president seems to now be bringing in a conspiracy theorist to be part of his legal team, but is he really a part of the team or is he just mouthpiece for television? MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: It

looks to me like Trump is bringing in a bomb thrower and my experience has been you don't do that when you're winning. So I think probably they have made a decision when they have looked at the evidence and you think about the obstruction investigation that Mueller is doing, that is a pretty damning interview that Trump gave on air, talking about firing Comey because of the Russia thing. So, they may have made a collusion the legal side is going to be tough and now try to wage war in the court of public opinion.

BLACKWELL: So, the president from the reporting out of Washington is essentially now becoming his own legal strategist.

MOORE: Right.

BLACKWELL: How would you advise one on becoming their own legal strategist in this environment?

MOORE: Right. I do think that his legal team has had a tough job and that is trying to control their client. The president likes to surround himself with cheerleaders. You don't need that in a lawyer. Your lawyer's job is to tell the tough news. You don't need a lawyer to come in and tell you everything is great and rosy.

I think the president likes to hear somebody patting him on the back saying everything is going his way and it's to be a good thing. That's the danger of becoming your own chief legal strategist. You need somebody on the side saying, no, you need to slow down on this, this is not going good, you need to think about this, you need to put this in the calculation. And he's not going to get that if he gets people who are just like-minded and want to cheer him on.

BLACKWELL: So, in Randi's story there, we heard diGenova talked about what he believes is a plot within the Department of Justice to frame the president. The president is also just a couple of days ago, I was going to say this week, but last week now, said that he indeed wants to speak with Mueller's team. Those two things don't seem to correspond with one another.

MOORE: No, I think that's true. I mean, I'm the not sure the president wants to talk to Mueller's team.

BLACKWELL: He just wants people to think he does?

MOORE: That's right. I mean, he said this all along, I'm willing to give an interview, I'm willing to cooperate, but that is months we have heard that line from him. Now, we are hearing to negotiate the specific questions, it's almost like they want the president have a take-home test, so that he can prep his answers and spout these things off. There's danger with that because you can't count on Trump to follow the rules of the take-home test. He is liable to get in there and perjure himself or get deeper in the hole he is already in.

So, I'm not sure he wants to do it but I do think that diGenova's idea that somehow there's a big vast conspiracy out there that you can't trust anybody, that is not compatible with this idea they want to be forthcoming.

[07:25:02] BLACKWELL: Well, aside from some of the questions reportedly the president has where diGenova would fit with the legal team and strategy, there are questions about potential conflicts of interest, which one who is just glancing view of this would seem to be obvious. DiGenova legal partner and wife Victoria Toensing represents several people who have been interviewed by special counsel Mueller including Sam Clovis who was a former Trump campaign national co- chair.

Does that seem to conflict with bringing someone in if your wife and legal partner represents someone else in this probe?

MOORE: Well, it complicates it and may be why we are seeing a slow down on diGenova coming and being a part of the team. There are ideas in the law how you can build a wall to separate your partners or your law firm from potential conflicts of interest and as long as you're not doing something adverse to the client that the firm is representing, you know, there are bar rules that talk that about and give you guidance on it. But it's interesting after this big announcement he was going to come and be the mouthpiece of the legal team now and now we have suddenly a back-off as we move forward and the conflict may be the reason for that.

BLACKWELL: Put some meat on this reporting of the difficulty the president and his legal team are having bringing more attorneys on. We saw John Dowd quit this week. That they're having, reportedly, they reached out to four top attorneys in Washington and didn't get one of them to join.

MOORE: I think a lawyer has to make a decision when you undertake representation, especially when you have the president of the United States as a client. Whether or not you can go and maintain the level of professional services that you're used to rendering so a client who is not going to listen to you.

The president is used to being a CEO. He is used to doing his own thing and not taking anybody else's advice. And so, the lawyer has got to decide I'm putting my name out there, I'm putting my neck on the line, I'll put my reputation out there both personally and professional and am I willing to do that?

And I think that could pose an internal problem. I don't think it has anything to do with money. There is none of that.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

MOORE: I think people are thinking, down the road, do I want to be the guy who is remembered for standing up and spouting off something that Donald Trump wanted me to say when I really knew it wasn't true.

BLACKWELL: All right. Michael Moore, thanks so much.

MOORE: Glad to be with you.

BLACKWELL: All right. There's a lot more to talk about this morning, including the Stormy Daniels big interview tonight.

Christi, we are looking ahead to "STATE OF THE UNION."

PAUL: We are.

"STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine is talking to him about President Trump's national security adviser, with the controversial past. That is "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper today at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, only right here on CNN.

And you saw the hundreds of thousands of people marching across the country and marching across the world to stop gun violence. I don't know if you saw the special 9-year-old guest who really energized that crowd in Washington. Where do they go from here, though?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:38] CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: We hope the weekend has treated you well so far. This Sunday, 7:32 is the time. And we're always grateful for your company. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good morning to you.

A powerful moment we want to share with you now at the March for Our Lives rally in Washington when a special 9-year-old speaker took the stage. The granddaughter of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

PAUL: Yes, Yolanda Renee King. She echoed the same message that her grandfather had in that city nearly 50 years ago now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOLANDA RENEE KING, GRANDDAUGHTER OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR: My grandfather had that dream that his four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream that enough is enough!

(CHEERS)

And that this should be a gun-free world, period!

(CHEERS)

Will you please repeat these words after me?

Spread the word!

CROWD: Spread the word!

KING: Have you heard?

CROWD: Have you heard?

KING: All across the nation!

CROWD: All across the nation!

KING: We.

CROWD: We!

KING: Are going to be!

CROWD: Are going to be!

KING: A great generation.

CROWD: A great generation.

KING: Now, I'd like you to say it like you really, really mean it!

Spread the word!

CROWD: Spread the word!

KING: Have you heard?

CROWD: Have you heard?

KING: All across the nation!

CROWD: All across the nation!

KING: We.

CROWD: We!

KING: Are going to be!

CROWD: Are going to be!

KING: A great generation.

CROWD: A great generation.

KING: Now, I'd like you to say it like it really, really mean and the whole entire world can hear you!

Spread the word!

CROWD: Spread the word!

KING: Have you heard?

CROWD: Have you heard?

KING: All across the nation!

CROWD: All across the nation!

KING: We.

CROWD: We!

KING: Are going to be!

CROWD: Are going to be!

KING: A great generation.

CROWD: A great generation.

KING: Now give yourself a hand!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yolanda Renee King there. Stepping up to support young voices like hers or the survivors of other mass shootings.

PAUL: Yes. Here's CNN correspondent Ed Lavandera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moments known by a single headline brought them together.

[07:35:02] Aurora, Tucson, Orlando, Las Vegas, Clackamas, Virginia Tech.

This group of about 15 people marched in Washington, survivors and victims relatives of the most horrific mass shootings in U.S. history. They came to embrace the students of parkland.

PAT MAISCH, TUCSON SURVIVOR: I hope that the signs that we are carrying saying we support them, that we are survivors, that they know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

LAVANDERA: Pat Maisch survived a shooting that almost killed Congresswoman Gabby Giffords seven years ago. Six died that day, 13 wounded. Maisch wrestled away a magazine of bullets as the gunman tried to reload. The moment inspired her to become a gun control advocate as she listens to the Parkland students on stage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will fight for all of us!

LAVANDERA: She is emboldened to pass the torch to the next generation.

MAISCH: The kids have done more than we have in years so let's let them take the lead. Let's stand back and catch them when they fall or ask them what they need and give them what they need.

LAVANDERA: Each year, this group grows. The tragedies haven't stuck.

HEATHER GOOZE, LAS VEGAS SURVIVOR: We they wanted to be with you guys.

LAVANDERA: Heather Gooze is new. She survived the Las Vegas ambush. Here she's in a crowd bonded by tragedies. GOOZE: It's kind of sad that you don't introduce yourself by name.

You say like, oh, you're Columbine. I'm Vegas. Or, you're Orlando, you're Sandy Hook? It's nice to meet you like, you're Columbine? Nobody understands what we understand.

I wish I had never met any of these people. Now, I'm so glad they are a part of my life and they're, you know, part of my family.

LAVANDERA: Jeremy Smith and Sam Felber are the current student body president and vice president at Virginia Tech. They noticed this group and met Uma (INAUDIBLE). Her father was an engineering professor killed in the Virginia Tech massacre. They had no idea this moment would touch their lives so closely.

(on camera): Did you guys expect to meet someone like her today?

SAM FELBER, VIRGINIA TECH STUDENT: Since our shooting, it's been 11 years now. We walk by the memorial on our way to class every day of 32 Hokies who died and it's insane that nothing has been done.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Tragedy turned this group into activists. They couldn't sit at home. They mourned by pushing for gun control legislation but they have experienced disappointment after disappointment.

PAUL KEMP, SHOOTING VICTIM RELATIVE: When I got the call from my sister and we had to tell her son, you cannot do anything.

LAVANDERA: Paul Kemp's brother was killed in a Clackamas mall shooting just days before Sandy Hook. He's a gun owner who advocates for responsible state gun laws. He spent years lobbying makers and he's inspired by the Parkland students who haven't shied away from the public stage.

KEMP: They have the benefit of youth and being invincible and not listening to people tell them you can't do that and they have been doing it and I love it.

LAVANDERA: It's the children, they say, who are supposed to learn and find inspiration from their elders.

GOOZE: The students have gotten the world to kind of stand up and take notice.

LAVANDERA: But here, it's the wise and experienced leaning on the young.

GOOZE: When is this going to stop? This I hope is the beginning. This is going to be the beginning of the end.

LAVANDERA: Ed Lavandera, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: It's really a moment to see some of those people from Sandy Hook meet some of the other shooting survivors and finally have that moment together and hopefully maybe not just common ground but common strengths.

BLACKWELL: And, you know, it really kind of brings back for a lot of people -- these happen so often that when you hear the city names over and over and over again, it really just doubles down on why there has to be some kind of relief for people. There has to be some change. What that is, of course, that's a conversation but something has to change.

PAUL: Yes. We'll be right back.

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[07:43:25] PAUL: So, in a new interview with "The Washington Post" this morning, porn star Stormy Daniels says her career in the adult film industry has prepared her for a life of public scrutiny and now a highly anticipated TV interview tonight. Daniels could provide new details about her alleged affair with the president and what she claims is an effort to silence her.

We have deputy managing editor for "The Weekly Standard", Kelly Jane Torrance, with us now, as well as Michael Moore, who stuck around for us.

Michael, thank you both for sticking around. Kelly Jane, to you as well.

I wanted to ask, first of all, in this "the Washington Post," we learned a few things about her that maybe people didn't know. She is a mother. She is a wife. She is an equestrian. And she mentions, or her attorney mentions that there's $20 million possibly, Michael, at stake here for her.

When you hear all of that, mother, wife, money, what sense do you get about her intention in bringing all this to light?

MICHAEL MOORE, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA: You know, her motive to come out now is interesting and I think a question that remains and hopefully we will find about it in the interview tonight. The story came back to life when she filed a lawsuit. She, obviously, had told this tale one time before and told her story about this one time before, so I don't know. I mean, I'm curious about it because she does have a lot at risk.

PAUL: Could she be on the hook for $20 million?

MOORE: You never go into court and think you're not at risk for something, you now? So, I'm sure her lawyer is probably telling that. I think it's unlikely.

You know, I think the president is in odd position, because essentially, he's defended himself against something he says he wasn't a part of. And he is talking about talking about, you know, talking to the court and fighting people and he has a lawyer out there saying he paid money but nobody knows why he paid the money and he won't tell anybody.

[07:45:02] Those things don't bode well for the president's side.

PAUL: Because there's not a lot of it that makes sense I think to some degree.

There was in "The Post", she did say, this could be about motive. She said, I didn't do this to get any sort of approval from anyone or recognition. I simply wanted to tell my personal truth and defend myself.

You understand that to some degree.

Kelly Jane, here's the thing. What is she defending herself from? Because wasn't it herself and her lawyer who made this public, with the lawsuit?

KELLY JANE TORRANCE, DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: It's a great question. Yes, what defending herself from what? All of the president has said he didn't have an affair with her and seems strange she wants to defend herself by saying I had an affair with a married man and I want the world to know about it. It is bizarre.

You know, we were joking in the makeup room earlier that, you know, if any of us had had an affair with President Trump, we'd be paying people not to tell anybody because we'd be embarrassed by it. So, it is a little strange and, you know, she's, of course, going to claim it's not about money. And, of course, it is.

I have to say I was shocked that she, days before the election, agreed to keep quiet for $130,000. I mean, that's nothing to Donald Trump who, of course, claims to be a multibillionaire. And why did she settle for so little money? I have to think that like Trump, himself, according, of course, to Michael Wolff's book, maybe she thought he actually had no chance to become president.

PAUL: And here's something else that's interesting. You know, President Trump is very vocal about what he thinks about many things. Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, it's almost as though these women have silenced him because he has said nothing. What does that tell you, Michael, about the power these women have possibly over the president right now?

MOORE: I think he is used to being in the position of power. He basically has sort of brought these women in probably promised them things, thought he could pay them off and buy them with his power and his money and he is used to living that kind of life. Suddenly, they have come out saying that doesn't matter to us and we're going to tell our story.

The danger for him coming in forward now is that we've got at least one judge and state court action saying the case could move forward, and that puts the president in a posture of having to come in, likely have a deposition, give testimony and answer some questions about what happened, the story there and sort of put meat on the bones I guess of the allegations in that case. That could put him in real jeopardy and not just politically, but also, you know, in his personal situation at home and other things like that. So I think he's at least maybe listening to some lawyers somewhere,

somebody telling him he needs to keep quiet and let this thing roll out.

PAUL: I want to ask you about Melania. As I understand it, she is staying at Mar-a-Lago and the president is going back to the White House tonight. She has been silent, of course.

I know that we remember that moment with the Bill Clinton scandal when he was walking out to Marine One and Hillary was with him and it was the first time they had been seen after everybody -- the whole thing had come out and she was holding Chelsea's hand and Chelsea was in between the two of them. A lot of people looking at Melania wondering, what is her reaction going to be here?

My question is, how much does ma law Melania's reaction or reaction from her affects how this moves forward, Kelly Jane?

TORRANCE: Yes, it's a great question, Christi, and she is, you know, certainly not necessarily standing by her man and she is in a tough position. I mean, we don't know what she knew and when she knew it, of course. And the fact that both of these women said that they had an affair with Donald Trump months after Melania gave birth to her son with Donald Trump, that has to be sort of an extra sting.

And, you know, she is in a difficult position and I don't envy her, but I think it's impressive that she is managing to stay quiet and she is taking the high road here and I applaud her for that. We'll see how long it lasts. But, you know, it's funny.

We in the press, of course, we are, you know, analyzing her every move. And, you know, when she steps off an airplane with Donald Trump and sort of, you know, goes ahead of him to get out and doesn't even look at him and walks quickly, we are analyzing that.

PAUL: Right.

TORRANCE: You know, we want to know. We want to know what is going on. It's the American --

PAUL: Yes, it is. I'm sorry, Kelly Jane.

I want to get to Michael quick because we are over our time here. I want to ask you about the same thing. What does -- how Melania reacts, how does that drive what happens then?

MOORE: The only thing I can say about it and from a legal side is this, we don't know what kind of maybe prenup Melania has with Trump.

PAUL: It's a good point.

MOORE: And that could be playing into this too, so we just don't know. At the end of the day remember, it's really not about the alleged affair.

[07:50:00] It's about what happens in the cover up -- PAUL: It's about intimidation. It's about possible violation of

campaign finance.

MOORE: That's right.

PAUL: That's bottom line.

Thank you both so much. Michael Moore and Kelly Jane Torrance, always good to have you here.

We'll be right back.

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PAUL: Good people in this world. And here's an example -- a dramatic rescue in California caught on video this week.

BLACKWELL: Yes, fast moving floodwaters in Santa Clarita swept this SUV away. Watch this.

The driver trapped inside, and then a person was passing by, saw what happened, grabbed some ropes, grabbed the rock, burst through the window, pulled the man out. Everyone was safe. The driver later said he is lucky to be alive.

PAUL: And we are certainly glad he is and glad for that man who rescued him.

Thank you so much for sharing your morning with us. We hope you make some good memories today.

BLACKWELL: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John king is coming up after a break.

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