Transcripts For MSNBCW Dateline 20190805

A husband and father is suddenly under suspicion. Hes crying and were crying. He said, they think i hurt mom. Three daughters stand by their dad. And one prosecutor stands firm. Hes holding his wife of almost three decades under the water. My job is to get justice for cristi hall. Was it murder . Hello and welcome to dateline a young woman peers into her neighbors yard and sees something for a few seconds. A man, a woman, and a moment thats unsettling. Was it some kind of accident . A crime . Maybe even a murder . What she saw and what she did would set in motion a chain of events that would divide a family and a jury. Here is keith morrison. We know the truth. And we know everything that happened. How do we know what we know . Its emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer. Though it is, even if weve seen something, or if we think we have. And thus the question at the heart of the whole puzzle. Is this woman right . I know what i saw. And i know the conclusion of my story. Of course she does. Of course she does. So why does this other woman think this . She doesnt know for sure what she saw. A question, we say, on which all the rest will turn. Why dont we begin here. Calimesa, california, Riverside County. Historic missions. Sprawling suburbing creeping out to the rim of mountains around the eastern flank of los angeles. Here is where chris and cristi hall had come to live out their golden years, though they were far from old when it happened. Just experienced, with life and each other. As far back as i can remember, its always been chris and cristi. They were never thought of as separate. They were a unit. These are the three daughters. Courtney, the eldest, is a teacher. All of them of course have heard scores of times the story of how their parents met. It was 1978. Cristi had gone to see a relative at the air force base in nearby San Bernardino. Quite by chance, while she was there she encountered a Security Guard who, to her at least, looked just like elvis. It was Blair Christopher hall. Chris to his friends. Apparently she was a little flirty at the gate. [ laughter ] in short order, chris and cristi got married. She was 17. He, 20. And as the girls grew up, they said they never doubted for a single moment the powerful bond of love. Their parents with them, and with each other. They were probably closer with their parents than most children. Theyre the parents i hope to one day be. Cristi, the vivacious glue of the family. Chris, her perfect mirror. My dad is a little more kicked back, quiet, relaxed. Theyre the perfect balance. Chris was a Police Officer in San Bernardino until he was shot in the line of duty. Then he went off to become police chief in two small towns in idaho. Then in 2005, anticipating an empty nest and eventually retirement, the halls bought this place back in calimesa. Life seemed to have hit a sweet spot. As ashton and brianna remember their mother telling them. We happened to be laying on the bed with her. She just started talking. She was like, i am just im so happy that i have you girls and dad. It was one of those conversations that you dont have every day. Still, there was work to be done. It was not a new house. It could use some remodeling. Particularly the bathroom. Courtney was still living with her parents as the work began. Theyre going to be doing the tile work and stuff. So we wouldnt have a shower for that day. So, shower out of commission, they decided to wake up early, put on their bathing suits and rinse off in the outdoor spa before the contractor arrived at 6 45 a. M. It was june 7th, 2007. Chris got up first, turned on the spa to warm it up, then called brianna at her college dorm in san diego. Heres your wakeup call, babe. Get out and go on that run. Back at the house, courtney dozed through her first wakeup. While chris and cristi made their way outside to the spa. Just after 6 30, chris looked in on courtney again. Second call. Then headed back to the spa. Lifes last normal moments. 6 37 a. M. I got up out of bed. I was putting on my robe. I heard this panicked, panicked scream from my dad yelling for me. I ran down the hallway to the back porch and i saw him just trying to pull out my mom out of the spa. Emergency. It was she who dialled 911 as she and her father struggled to lift her mother out of the spa. It was the first moments of the worst day of our lives. Is it possible for people to understand what its like to be in that situation . I dont think so. To see just both your parents in the worst times that youve ever seen them. Obviously my mom unconscious. And my dad just panicked and for the first time in my life, seeing him just that way, not knowing what to do. Because he was a cop, he was used to dealing with those kinds of things. He was a cop used to dealing with those kind of things with people that were not his wife. So courtney took charge. After calling 911, she started cpr on her mother with her father. Emt and firefighter eric norwood was the first to respond. He just started, help my wife, oh, my god, help my wife, help my wife. Chris hall was kneeling at his wifes side, more in the way than anything, and so hysterical it was hard for the emts to help. It took us a little bit to get him out of the way. He didnt want to leave her. He kept holding her hand, yelling her name. The paramedics worked on her for 20 minutes. No vital signs. None. No words to describe the fear and the anxiety. Youre losing your mother and watching her go right in front of you. We tried to save her together. We just couldnt. The ambulance rushed her off to the hospital where she was declared dead. She had drowned in the family spa. A private family tragedy. Except maybe not so private after all. Someone was watching. Protect your pet with the 1 name in flea and tick protection. Frontline plus. Trusted by vets for nearly 20 years. [ scoffs ] if you say so. Im sorry . What teach here isnt telling you is that snapshot rewards safe drivers with discounts on car insurance. What . Or maybe he didnt know. [ chuckles ] im done with this class. Youre not even enrolled in this class. I know. Im supposed to be in ceramics. Do you know room 303. Oh. Thank you. Yeah. Good luck, everybody. Oh. Thank you. Yeah. Here, hello starts with hi mple. How can i help . A data plan for everyone. Everyone . Everyone. Lets send to everyone [ camera clicking ] wifi up there . Ahhh. Sure, why not . Howd he get out . a camera might figure it out. That was easy glad i could help. At xfinity, were here to make life simple. Easy. Awesome. So come ask, shop, discover at your xfinity store today. Returning now to someone was watching, here is keith morrison. On the morning of june 7, 2007, brianna hall was on the road home from san diego, driving from college, to what, she didnt know. Her elder Sister Courtney had called and said it was bad. She said there was an accident and you need to come home right away. It was courtney who eventually broke the news to ashton and brianna. Their mother, their fathers wife of close to 30 years, was dead. But neither courtney nor chris waited at the house to tell the sisters what happened or to comfort them. More did they linger ore the body at the hospital. They couldnt. Because father and daughter were escorted to separate squad cars and driven to the Police Station to talk about the accident. What was that ride like . Quiet. I remember crying the whole time. I couldnt comfort my father. He couldnt comfort me. We got to the station and they said that my dad would be a few more minutes. Chris, so frenzied at the scene, had calmed down by then. He was a cop among cops, after all, and he under, he said, what was necessary to sort out what happened. I cant even start to imagine what youre going through, okay . Just, you know, its a Death Investigation and we have to do this, okay . Happy to help, he said. Whatever would get him back home to comfort his daughters as quickly as possible. Were all so close. Chris told investigators what happened. How, as courtney slept, he and cristi were in the spa bathing. She got out, went in, went to the bathroom, got some more coffee, tried to wake up courtney. Courtney didnt wake up, apparently. She came back out. As cristi returned to the spa, said chris, they passed each other on the patio. He went in the house, stopped by courtneys room to make sure she was awake, then went right back outside and saw his wife floating face down in the spa. He called courtney then, he said, and they began a frantic effort to revive her. A fall, must have been. In your gut, tell me what happened. She slipped or something. I dont know. Thats the only thing i can think of. But chris apparently hadnt noticed the nasty threinch laceration on cristis head. And here suddenly, the point of the Police Interview is revealed. Shes got a huge gash on her head, okay . Something like that is not consistent with just falling down. Not consistent with just falling down . Why would the police think that . I mean, youve been around for a while. I know where youre going. And no. Theres nothing why in fact was this expolicechief being questioned at all about the apparently disastrous accident that killed the love of his life . And the answer was right next door. When chris and cristi hall took their outdoor bath that morning in june, someone was watching. Her. I got up at 6 00. Got my coffee. Lindsay patterson was on leave from her i. T. Job in the navy, visiting her mom who lives just over the backyard wall from the hall house. Lindsay was inside, in the bathroom that faced away from the hall house and out onto the street, when she heard a noise. It was a horrible scream. It was just, something was wrong kind of scream. A womans, she thought. She went outside to tell her mom. I said, did you hear that scream . She said, yeah, but i think its just kids playing in the playing in the pool. Kids, at six something in the morning . Lindsay walked over to the sixfoot brick wall between their yard and the halls. She stepped on the planter, she said, and looked over the wall. At that point i saw a man with his hand, one hand on top of a womans head and one hand on her back, and she was face down in the water. Like something was going on . Yeah, thats what i assumed. That is, she thought she was looking at a sex act in progress. I dont know why it didnt seem right. But something made me want to look again. Thats 90 seconds, she said, between her first and second looks. This time, she said, she only saw the man in the spa. Hes leaning back, just relaxed in the hot tub. But i dont see her. Hes got his elbows back, hes kind of looking around like nothing. Where did the woman go . Lindsay told her mom something seemed strange. She again tells me, lindsay, stop being nosy, dont worry about it. But it just didnt seem right. It wasnt enough time for her to have gotten out and gone inside the house. So, said lindsay, she went to the wall again. Her third and final look. At that point he was getting out of the jacuzzi. And he was in a very big rush. Shes still nowhere to be seen. The look on his face was almost undescribable. It was almost as if he had just gone into another world. It was scary. It was instinct that told her something was wrong, said lindsay. So she called 911. 911, state your emergency. A woman was killed. Now, hours and hours later, the detectives confronted chris with lindsays story. Why, they asked, didnt her story match his . So am i supposed to believe the witness is lying . Im not going to say shes lying. She sounds like a truthful kid or whatever. But i dont know. I cant explain what shes saying she saw. So now that question we posed as we began. Did Lindsay Patterson really know what she saw . If your dishwasher doesnt get dishes completely dry. Try finish jetdrys new stronger formula. It dries 100 better than detergent alone even plastics. Get dishes drier than you ever thought possible. Try finish jetdry. Go to the pharmacy counter for powerful. Congestion and pressure . Claritind. While the leading allergy spray is indicated for 6 symptoms. Claritind is indicated for 8. Including sinus congestion and pressure. Claritind. Get more. After his wifes drowning death in a backyard spa, police asked chris hall to explain what happened that morning. What chris did not know was that his neighbor had also talked to police. And she told a very different story than the one chris was telling. Here again is keith morrison. Chris and cristi halls three daughters clung together in grief and shock, all through the dismal evening hours of that worst of all days, june 7, 2007. Waiting for their father to return from the Police Station. And they wondered, why was it taking so long . Then the phone rang. And they had their answer. You know, brokenup words, and hes crying, and were crying. That was when he said they think i hurt mom. I mean, he was very upset. But he didnt sound surprised when he said no, he was crying. He was crying. He was upset. Very upset. But by the time Police Investigators were questioning chris, remember, they had heard from Lindsay Patterson. And at the station, chris version of events in the spa differed in one Crucial Detail from what lindsay described seeing that first time she peered over the wall and into the halls backyard. That specifically, me holding her down in there, theres nothing that took place in that jacuzzi that would explain that. There was no sex. There was no i dont even think we had any contact while we were in the jacuzzi other than when i was getting her out. But investigators were getting a good look at cristis body and saw wounds that to them suggested a struggle and more than one nasty blow to the head. So the police had to choose. Which version, chris halls or Lindsay Pattersons, was more likely the true story of what happened . Tom dove is a senior investigator for the riverside d. A. I think they felt this was enough to say this was not an accidental drowning. It was purely much more suspicious than that. And so before the night was over, chris hall was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife. The girls could stop waiting. He wasnt coming home. It was obviously a tragedy, losing our mother that day. But this is a tragedy on top of a tragedy now. Because knowing our parents, its the farthest thing from truth. And one that felt infected by some kind of madness, said the girls. Cristi was the love of their fathers life. The center of everything for him. How could he be accused of harming her . She was happy too, they said, as happy as she had ever been, they said, based on matt mother daughter talk they had not long before she died. She kept reiterating how happy it was. Me and brie will always cherish that. Didnt think much of it at that, but that being the last time we actually saw her kind of burned into your memories. Yeah. But right or wrong, the legal trigger had been pulled. Chris hall spent almost two months in jail, until his daughters received the payout from cristis Life Insurance policy and used the money to meet his milliondollar bail. Then he went home to what was meant to be his retirement retreat with the help of his daughters to prepare for a murder trial. Its very surprising to have a client in a murder case out on bail. But he was a special man. And this was a special situation. These are attorneys who would eventually defend him, although at first they only heard about the case. Steve harmon and paul gretch. Youve said two things. Special man, special situation. I think both of us can say this is a man that we like and we know. We dont feel he could have done anything like this. Chris hall and his daughters prepared for a trial which they hoped would make clear to everybody, the police, the neighbor, the world, that chris would not, could not, did not harm the love of his life. There was never, in 30 years of marriage, never one moment of violence. There was no motive for this man to kill his wife. They had a look at the neighbor Lindsay Pattersons eyewitness account and suggested it was not conclusive at all. It was tragically incomplete. She saw three snapshots. What is missed by everyone is the wife getting into the jacuzzi, slipping, falling into the jacuzzi, hitting her head, going unconscious, and drowning. See this sharp corner sticking out into the spa . Hitting your head on this would certainly have opened a gash and knocked cristi out, said the attorney. She didnt see what was really happening during the times when she was not looking. That scream that made Lindsay Patterson look over the wall . Lindsay, they pointed out, was in a bathroom that faced the street. She wasnt in the backyard when she said she heard it. Could have been anybody. And courtney, near the spa, didnt hear anything. We think she misinterpreted what she saw. Lindsay concedes she didnt know what she was seeing in those glimpses that morning. Something was wrong. Yet you hadnt really seen anything. No. But i knew something was wrong. I dont know if in my brain i was putting things together. But from between the scream, the position that he was holding her, and then just not having enough time for her to have gone inside. Its like youve got three different snapshots. Right. Of something going on there. Right. And had to kind of work out what this was. Yeah. I wasnt thinking at that point, oh, this man murdered his wife. But now, based largely on that account, chris hall would go on trial for murder. And it was a trial for his daughters, too. He loved her. They were each others best friends. And this is just this is not fair to him because he truly loved her more than more than anyone. And yet the prosecutor was going to try to prove that this family man and former cop murdered his wife. Could it be done . To pick up belongings just one day after the shooting that left ten dead and 13 injured. Lt. Only activia has billions oflt. Our live and active probiotics. So, lets make this the summer of loving your gut. Activia. Love for your gut. The way you triumph over adversity. And live your lives. Thats why we redesigned humira. We wanted to make the experience better for you. Now theres less pain immediately following injection. 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My bladder leak underwear. Orried someone might see so, i switched. To always discreet boutique. Its shapehugging threads smooth out the back. So it fits better than depend. And no one notices. Always discreet. The suspected shooter is currently being held on a capital murder charge. The New York Times is chris hall was charged in the drowning death of his wife cristi. As prosecutors were preparing to lay out their case, halls daughters stood by him, proclaiming his innocence. Would anything change their minds about their dad . Here again is keith morrison. Burke strunsky is a hard charging man, exmember in Good Standing of the san franciscos d. A. s office, now Senior Deputy in riverside. That takes skill, persuasive powers. Strunsky would need them in the case against family man chris hall. Mr. Hall on the surface looks like a loving family man. He looks like a good father. Hes somebody that had the support of his family. So he did, but strunsky wasnt buying the loving father and family man bit. When he heard about chris halls obvious grief, the wailing that went on after the socalled accident, the phrase that crossed his mind was, its an act. I think it was a wonderful performance by the defendant of acting like a bereaved husband. But when you look at his actions, how little he did to help his wife. Who tried harder to save cristi . Not chris, said the prosecutor. But his daughter. She called 911. She helped him get the body out of the spa. She is the only one that did chest compression. He had no interest in truly helping his wife. A matter of opinion, of course. But prosecutor strunsky poked around in chris halls past as a policeman. And what did he find . This man had an uncanny ability to fabricate stories. Seven years earlier, while hall was chief of police in cascade, idaho, he was charged with and convicted of misuse of public money, embezzled 19,000, spent ten months in jail. A white collar crime, hardly murder. But what struck the prosecutor is that he says hall tried to cover it up. To plan a fraud, to lie about it, not just lie about it, but lie about it effectively. I think that was very telling about who we were dealing with. Suddenly the prosecutors prospects were looking better. At the trial, strunsky made Lindsay Patterson his star witness, of course. It was her story, after all, that got the whole thing started. But almost as important, he called the Riverside County medical examiner who testified that those lacerations in cristis could not in his opinion have been the result of a single accidental fall. And the m. E. Argued the particular type of bruising on cristis face and body was the hallmark of a homicide. The totality of injuries were not consistent with somebody slipping and falling and then a rescue attempt. And there was a clump of hair in the bottom of the spa, still entwine with a broken plastic hair clip. That, said the prosecutor, could have only come from a violent struggle. When you lose that amount of hair, its not explained by any fall. There were minor hiccups in the case. Lindsay patterson, for example, was a little inconsistent about how long she looked over the backyard wall that first time she saw something going on. Was it just a few seconds . Or as long as a minute . But either way, said the prosecutor, lindsay was sure she saw physical contact. That was the important thing. He was given the opportunity to explain any physical contact that could in any way reasonably explain what Lindsay Patterson saw. In other words, were they washing each other, were they involved in a sex act . Was there anything she could have misinterpreted . And at the end of the day, youre not just stuck with the fact that Lindsay Patterson made a mistake. You have to actually believe that Lindsay Patterson really hallucinated about everything she saw. And what made lindsays story all the more convincing, said prosecutor strunsky, was she told it before finding out what happened to cristi. She dialled 911 a full minute and a half before anyone from the hall house did. Before lindsay had any idea how it would end. Here is what the jury heard her say in that call. And i saw him put her underwater and hold her there. And she was still on the phone with 911 when chris hall came outside and found his wifes body floating in the spa and called out for courtney. Investigator tom dove. I heard it best described during the trial as a cosmic coincidence that someone could see something that they perceived to be more than just some kind of kinky action in a jacuzzi in the morning, and then that actually turn out to be true, that a woman was actually drowned in that spa. That is not a coincidence. That is what she saw. The prosecutions theory . Somehow, sitting in that spa that morning, chris was overcome by some private fury, who knows what. The hidden violence, is what strunsky called it. And then killed his spouse when he thought nobody was looking. Chris hall ambushed his wife, grabbed her by the hair, slammed her head twice into the concrete edge. Hes holding his wife of almost three decades under the water, showing absolutely no mercy, no remorse. An absolute desire to end her life at that point. And then the piece de resistance. He then gets out of the spa, walks into the house where his plan is to wake his 22yearold daughter, who he can use as an alibi witness. One little quibble. Why . In fact, as convinced as he was of halls guilt, strunsky conceded the why was a problem. He didnt legally have to know, he said. But he just didnt. There it was. Its emotionally unsatisfying not to have that answer, not to know the entire narrative of what happened. But you would want to know why this guy, married to this woman for almost 30 years, apparently happily, would suddenly turn on her and drown her in the pool. Right. And im not sure we got the answers to that specific question. Kind of an important question, isnt it . Its an important question, and a question that we ask in all spousal homicides. So, proof enough or reasonable doubt . Almost three years after cristi halls death, a riverside jury would have to decide. The jury in chris halls murder trial heard dramatic testimony from his neighbor, Lindsay Patterson. Patterson claimed she had seen hall in the spa with his wife moments before she drowned. She said chris halls hand was on his wifes head and back while she lay face down in the water. Now it was the defenses turn to show that chris hall loved his wife, would never harm her, and that her death was a tragic accident. Here again is keith morrison. Chris halls daughters sat through every miserable minute of their dads trial for murder here at the courthouse in riverside, california. Through every miserable minute of their dads trial for murder here at the courthouse in riverside, california. Their review of the prosecutors portrait of their father . It was a lie, they said. It was hurtful to us to hear someone basically say he knows our parents better than we do. And he knows our father is a sociopath, and that were blind to it, and he knows there was hidden violence in our parents marriage and we just didnt see it. Youre basically telling us we didnt know our whole lives were a lie. And theres no proof of that. Chris hall had never been violent, argued the defense, had no motive, no reason to suddenly turn on his wife, it had to be a freak accident. So, said the defense, Lindsay Patterson didnt really know what she saw. In fact, if she really witnessed chris hall drowning his wife, why then didnt she claim to see cristis body in the spa when she looked again . It didnt make sense. But the highlight was the daughters testimony, emotional, quite powerful. It put prosecutor strunsky in a strange position, at odds with the victims own family. They were so clear, if we had any inkling he had done this, we would have done something, we have seen it, they say. They truly believe that in their hearts. This weighs on my greatly. But my job is to get justice for cristi hall. Now it was up to a jury to decide, after six days of testimony, two days of deliberation, they couldnt. It was a deadlock. The judge declared a mistrial. Chris hall walked out of court with his family free, but not quite in the clear. And nothing at all like a victory for the hall daughters. What was it like to get that hung jury . What did you think then . That was tragic. That was devastating to us. You expected a not guilty verdict . Oh, yes. Not a doubt. Deputy d. A. Burke strunsky was disappointed too. He was also determined to retry the case. But first he sent his investigator on a mission to explore the life and marriage of chris hall. And what do you know. In idaho, where hall had been a disgraced police chief, the investigator uncovered a startling accusation. Chris was a great, great con man. Former los angeles Police Officer jerry winkel is a county commissioner up in idaho now. But once upon a time he was chris halls friend, that is, before a night of poker and booze when he said paul made a disturbing revelation, that he had shot himself in the leg when he was a cop in order to get Retirement Benefits. Chris had been drinking beer. He came out and told me that he had shot himself. But there was more. D. A. Investigator tom dove had discovered a secret, not in chris past, but in cristis. There had been infidelity in the marriage in the past, six years prior. While chris hall was in idaho. The affair was relatively brief, years earlier. But she had been in phone contact with the man just days before she died. Had chris found out . Impossible to know. But when investigator dove talked to cristis coworkers at the clinic where she was an xray technician, several said they noticed a sudden change in her usually vibrant personality. One coworker told them more. That she was contemplating a divorce. If true, and it was only an if, it might well persuade a jury. Prosecutor strunsky also needed to explain why Lindsay Patterson didnt see cristis body when she looked over the wall the second time . We were not able to explain to the jury why she didnt see cristi at that point, and i think that allowed the defense to make the argument that cristi hall was inside. The prosecution hired a water expert to do a recreation of the hall spa. Shes been assisting Law Enforcement with drowning investigations for 20 years. She got in the spa. From the center of the pool and towards where lindsay was standing, anywhere i was laying, you could not be seen from lindsays viewpoint. So once i sank below the surface and hit that bottom, you could not see me at all from lindsays viewpoint. And now the prosecutor was ready. In may 2011, one year after the first jury deadlocked, Burke Strunsky went back to court armed with new evidence for a brandnew panel of halls peers. Jurors heard medical experts testify about the injuries to cristis head and once again heard lindsays 911 call. Cristis coworkers testified for the prosecution. And jerry winkel travelled from idaho to tell jurors what he once thought of chris hall. I was ashamed to admit he was once a Police Officer. If the prosecution had upped its game between the two years of trial, so had the defense. Thats when wellknown attorneys steve harmon and paul gretch entered the scene and came out swinging. That story about cristis affair, for example . Theres a shadow hanging over this, a very human shadow, which was that she was having a little affair, right, had a boyfriend. Yes. If the husband knew about it. But the wife never, ever mentions it and tells the husband. No one tells the husband. Quite right, said the judge. And because there was no evidence that chris knew about his wifes affair, he ruled it out of the trial. The story about hall shooting himself for Retirement Benefits . That was just absolutely a lie. Thats wrong. There was never, never any evidence or indication or not even a moments breath that he shot himself. Anyway, the story was prejudicial, said the judge, so he threw that out too. As for what Lindsay Patterson says she saw, chris hall holding his wifes head underwater, the defense had prepared its own visual demonstration, had taken pictures from her angle at the wall to show that it could look like two people were touching in the spa even if they werent. This is what she described seeing in her testimony. But on the closeup, what do you notice . Theyre not touching but theyre in position where they could be. But thats different than actually touching. Again, the hall daughters were there every minute. Their fathers enduring champions. And this time, more family members came to court. Two of cristis own siblings testified for chris. And said the same thing. We have not a doubt in our minds that this was not a moment of violence. This was not a murder. The victims own sister and own brother. Thats an amazing thing to see. Perhaps it was. But listen to this. The defense had one more very significant witness. A witness who oozed credibility. The sitting medical examiner for neighboring San Bernardino county, who stuck his neck way out to disagree publicly, in a court of law, with the medical examiner from riverside. He found this to be an accidental death, not a homicide. This was not some ordinary hired gun. This was a public official who said straight out that cristis head injuries could and perhaps should be explained by an accidental fall. He didnt rule out homicide . He didnt rule out homicide. But he said the preponderance of the evidence was towards an accidental drowning. What i have always been astounded by with this case is that the hall family lived so close to the San Bernardino border, if cristi had slipped and fell four or five blocks over, the pathologist in that county would never have filed criminal charges. An accident of geography. So now a second jury would sort through these two sets of allegations, these two opposing realities. And decide whether chris hall would turn and embrace home and his loving daughters a pair of handcuffs and a life in prison. Chris halls first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. Der patient sensitivity relief in 3 days. Say over the course of a weekend youre going to start feeling significant results. The good news . Our comfort lasts all day. The bad news . So does his energy. New depend® fitflex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. Because, perfect or not, lifes better when youre in it. Be there with depend®. Tthe bad news . Ouyour patience might not. Ay. New depend® fitflex underwear offers your best comfort and protection guaranteed. Because, perfect or not, lifes better when youre in it. Be there with depend®. Keith used to be great to roadtrip with. But since he bought his house. Are you going 45 . Uh, yes. 55 is a suggestion. Its kind of like driving with his dad. What a sign, huh . Terry, can you take a selfie of me . Take a selfie of you . Yeah. Can you make it look like im holding it . He did show us how to bundle home and auto at progressive. Com and save a bunch of money. Oh, a plaque. He later navigated northward, leaving. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents. But we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. But we can protect your home and auto this, is why we no longer have to worry about flushing too much toilet paper. Ridx contains billions of enzymes proven to break down even paper to keep your whole septic system healthy. Ridx, the number 1 septic brand. Also from ridx, try new rv odor control. Imagine if we we would be such good friends. Best friends. Advantage ii, kills fleas through contact all month long. I mean hes a wreck without me. Advantage ii, fight the misery of biting fleas. Chris halls first trial ended in a deadlocked jury. But with new evidence presented by both sides during his retrial, the jury was able to reach a verdict. Now, with the conclusion to our story, here is keith morrison. May, 2011. For the second time, 12 men and women of Riverside County, california, filed out of the courtroom, a second jury, to make a life decision about chris hall. Did he murder his wife . Which of the medical examiners should they believe . Whose account of the defendants character and, perhaps most important, what did Lindsay Patterson see when she peeked three times into the halls back yard. Do you ever have those sort of little dark moments of the soul where you think, i may have misinterpreted, misremembered its something ive thought about every day, whether i misinterpreted, whether i think i saw something that wasnt there. I didnt see everything. Yeah. But i saw what i saw. And i know the conclusion of my story. I know it. I know it. Right here. I know it. Of course, chris halls daughters say they know the truth too, real thing. In their hearts. I think that we were the three most critical jurors in that courtroom. Believe me, if we had heard anything or had any inkling that our father could have done this, as much as it would hurt and as much as we love our father, we would want that justice for our mother. The jurors deliberated two days and then broke for the long weekend. It was memorial day. Halls daughters felt good. Things can only go so wrong for so long before something actually has toe go right for us. We just did a lot of talking about the future and this, you know, being over, this being finished and honestly i was concerned about dad and how he was finally going to be able to grieve for the loss of his wife. Then it was tuesday, 8 45 in the morning. The jury gathered. And minutes later, a signal. They were ready. Chris hall and his daughters rushed to court. And in the end it was very quick. Guilty of first degree murder. Their father would not be coming home. Probably ever. He was being cuffed. And potentially put away for life. And yeah, it hurts, and we are angry about that. You can still hear those daughters. I can. Thinking you unfairly convicting their father. Absolutely. It weighs on me. But at the same time, i know who i am dealing with when it comes to chris hall. In fact, he is the one thats stolen their mother from them. It had been a peculiar fact of this case that the victims and defendants families stood solidly together against the prosecution. But what nunn knew was the truth was more complicated. After the verdict at chris halls sentencing, a letter was introduced from one of chris halls brother, billy carlton, who until now had said not one public word about the case. We would like to ask his honor for the maximum sentence, wrote billy. The pain that my family has suffered through this tragedy is unforgivable. I didnt want to hurt the girls. I had to say what was on my mind. There was a deep divide in the family, said billy. Some of the relatives believed chris was innocent but he and he said others including cristis uncle steve mundy urged on the prosecutor silently. Half the family was convinced he was innocent and half was convinced he wasnt. Thats hard to do when you have a big family and you all have to be together once in a while. When it involves a member as loved as cristi was. Exactly. Does that explain why this kind of group of people in the family decided to just let justice take its course . We talked about it quite a bit. I think so. Youve got to know when to show up sometimes and when not to show up, just to keep whats left together of the family as together as you can have it. Thank you so much for coming. When it was over, hall convicted and sentenced to 25 years to life, some of cristis relatives met with prosecutor strunsky and thanked him. Thank you for putting him away because he is a murderer. And the hall daughters, having lost their beloved mother, fought to save a father they adored, and having lost that fight, arent quite sure what theyll do now. Its a devastating reality. It really is. Especially for a family that, you know, to say that we were close is an understatement, you know . To go from that to being not able to be there with each other. Its its the biggest heartbreak that anyone can ever experience, i think. Thats all for this edition of dateline extra. Im craig melvin. Thank you for watching. Two more Mass Shootings in america on saturday morning, a gunman opened fire on a Shopping Center in el paso, texas. The man accused of opening fire in texas is in custody. Authorities believe he may have posted a hate filled manifesto before the shooting. And part of the essay contains some of President Trumps antirhetoric. S antirhetoric. Good morning, everyone, its monday, august 5th. Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside Yasmin Vossoughian. We begin in el paso, texas, where prosecutors the calling it a case of domestic terrorism. The officers are investigating the 21yearold white male suspect whom we will not name for hate crime charges and firearm charges which carry a penalty of death. The office will seek the death penalty. Officials say the suspect drove about ten hours to get to the el p paso walmart, and opened fire, killing 20 people, wounding 26 more. The suspect surrendered without incident. Were told he is speaking freely and has been forthcoming with information. 20 minutes before the shooting took place, a hate filled manifesto appeared online, believed to be linked to the shooter. The unsigned manifesto was posted on an extremist web site, and said the attack was motivated by antiimmigrant hatred, mentioning a spanish invasion of texas. It draws direct inspiration from the mass murder at two mosques in new zealand that left 51 people dead. In the attack, the suspect published a manifesto online, a white supremacist, the manifesto potentially linked to the el paso, in general i support the Christ Church shooter, this is a response to the hispanic invasion of texas. As the New York Times points out, if the manifesto is linked to the el paso gunman, it und underscores the spread of why supremacist, in a time where officials have not identified the victims but some family members have come forward to say their loved ones are among the dead. One story about a 25yearold mother who was shot and killed while apparently shielding her 2monthold son from the gunfire. We get more now from nbcs lester holt. How do you feel about being a mom . Again . Happy. Two months ago, jordan gave birth to her third child, a beautiful baby boy named paul. Jordan was one of 20 people tragically killed at this El Paso Walmart. She had a personality that would light up an entire room. Everybody loved her. She was an incredible mom, too. She was a wonderful person. She would give anything for those kids, anything. Even her life. 24yearold jordan and her husband andre had taken the baby to the store to buy School Supplies for their older daughter. They immediately tried to get in touch with the couple. Were at the unification center. Were praying to god that youre on the buses and that youll be here. But they didnt come. Jordan had been shot. The family later learning shed died on the way to the hospital, based on witness accounts they believe the couple did everything they could to protect their infant son. We think he shielded her, she shielded the baby, and thats how he was able to survive. You would have expected nothing less. I would expect nothing less. The baby suffered two fractures and bruises but miraculously is otherwise okay. The family still hasnt heard from andre since the shooting. Jordan was mom to two daughters. The couple had just celebrated their first wedding anniversary, a family left devastated. They were really good people, and we want them to be remembered that they were great parents and were really going to miss them. So incredibly heartbreaking. Joining us now live from el paso, msnbc. You were at the last news conference. Where does the investigation stand now . Its been stressed over and over again. This is going to be a long investigation. Law enforcement at the local level and federal level saying they were very much in the middle of this, declining to say how many shots were fired, declining a list of victim as well. The Police Department saying they are not prepared to give that list yet, a nagging question if any children were killed in this attack, and the Police Department has declined to say anything about that as well. You have large presence from the fbi, a victims assistance to work with the families of those killed, those who were injured as well, and they are pleading for those who were at the walmart that you see behind me. If they were taking photos and video, to give those to the federal bureau of investigation, who might have video or photographs of the suspect as well. He as you mentioned is speaking freely at this point. Law enforcement say hes cooperating with the investigation so far. David, let me get your thoughts, you have been on the ground for 24 hours. Last night there was a community vigil. Talk to us a little bit about what you have observed, how this community is responding to this massacre. Reporter it is a close knit community, that interfaith vigil taking place a few blocks from where i am standing at a public park. At a baseball field, i got an hour beforehand and watched as the crowd swelled to 200 people. This is a moment to bear witness, to answer the nagging questions that folks elsewhere and around the country have about how something of this level of violence could take place in this community. So much of the Conversation Centers on this place, this place right near the border, a ten minutes drive from the u. S. Mexico border that is a very safe city. El paso prides itself on being a safe city, how it could happen, stressing when you hear about the narrative from the president about life on the border, the reality is very different. Thanks, david. Just hours after that mass shooting in el paso, another gunman opened fire outside a popular bar in dayton, ohio. Nine people were killed there and 27 others were injured when a gunman wearing body armour began shooting around 1 00 a. M. In daytons historic oregon district. Surveillance video showing people running for their lives when shots began to ring out. It continued to happen. It was like pop, pop, pop, so once everybody was on the ground, you could see everyones faces like they were terrified. Just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, rapid, and you could tell its a big gun. According to daytons police chief, the shooter, a 24yearold white male was killed by police within 30 seconds of the first shots being fired. Dayton police have not released any information on a possible motive. Authorities say theres nothing in his history that would have prevented him from legally obtaining firearms. One of the victims of the shooting has been identified as the gunmans younger sister. The victims range in age from 22 to 57 years old. While the nation grappled with both of the shootings, the president of the United States initially remained focused on his own interests. He spent the first hours after the tragedy out of sight at his new jersey golf course sending out tweets of support, awkwardly mixed in with those promoting a celebrity fight and attacking his political foes, believe it or not. Trumps first tweet after the el paso shooting on saturday called it terrible and pledged the support of the federal government. 14 minutes later, the president sent a tweet wishing ufc fighter Colby Covington luck with his fight that evening. And a retweet of immediately fix sated on fear mongering. Social media photoed showed the president posing for photos at a wedding booked at his private golf club in new jersey. Trump ordered flags to be lowered in remembrance on both shootings and spoke to reporters on his way back to the white house. I just want to say that these are two incredible places. We love the people. Hate has no place in our country, and were going to take care of it. What are you going to do about it . Were talking to a lot of people and a lot of things are in the works and a lot of good things. We have done much more than most administrations and its really not talked about much, but we have done actually a lot. But perhaps more has to be done. Rather than do more than other administrations President Trump actually rolled back their critical work, including when trump signed a law in february of 2017 that revoked an obama era rule that made it harder for people with Mental Illnesses to purchase a gun. Joining us now from washington, political reporter from the hill, julia manchester. Lets talk about President Trumps reaction to these backtoback deadly shootings and how he has handled the situation. Previous president s have addressed the nation. We saw that with president obama after the Church Shooting in south carolina. How is trumps response or lack thereof going over as people nationwide are grieving. Compare that for us with other president s who have faced similar situations. I think past president s have absolutely used these moment of national crises, National Tragedies to work to unify the nation and come out and give a response immediately to bring people together, to console the citizens of the United States. Trump has behaved in a different way this weekend. Like you said before, there has been mixed tweets with celebrity fights going on, and mixed with partisan tweets. Hes at his bedminster, new jersey, golf course, at weddings and such, or at a wedding, so its not as if hes taking time off to really focus on this. It seems like hes distracted by matters that shouldnt be priority number one after the United States has faced two Mass Shootings in the span of less than 24 hours. So hes really giving critics a lot of ammunition here. Yeah, and its important to note the president is going to be issuing a statement i believe at 10 00 a. M. This morning. From the white house. From the white house. Lets talk about the conversation over gun control, of course that oucftentimes whe we see Mass Shootings, the conversation comes up first and foremost. And a lot of lawmakers are appealing to Mitch Mcconnell to Bring Congress back into session. What types of conversations are going on in washington and what is the likelihood that they would resume and come back from august recess. So youre hearing democrats really calling for increased background checks. Sherrod brown, the senator from ohio is urging Mitch Mcconnell to bring back the senate during august recess to make movement on this issue. However, history tells us that not Much Movement will be made because we see that Many Republican lawmakers are still kind of at the mercy of the National Rifle association and are kind of, you know, seem to be afraid somewhat to move forward on this issue because theyre afraid to lose the support of the gun lobby. However, the gun lobby is in a very different place than in the wake of previous Mass Shootings. We have seen the nra has been having Financial Difficulties and such. It will be interesting to see if this plays a role in all of that. Its interesting, despite the controversy surrounding wayne lapeer, and oliver north, the grasp that the nra has on washington. And this has put the issue in different focus because of the White Nationalism and somehow made the point, the nra does not want to be associated with that gun violence. Still ahead, acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney is defending President Trump in the wake of the two most recent Mass Shootings. What he has to say about the president s rhetoric. Democrats are putting the pressure on Mitch Mcconnell. A number are calling him to cancel an august recess for a gun control vote. Those stories and more coming up next. Vote those stories and more coming up next from the couldnt be prouders to the wait did we just winners. Everyone uses their phone differently. Thats why Xfinity Mobile lets you design your own data. Now you can share it between lines. Mix with unlimited, and switch it up at anytime so you only pay for what you need. Its a different kind of Wireless Network designed to save you money. Save up to 400 a year on your wireless bill. Plus get 250 back when you buy an eligible phone. Click, call or visit a store today. Welcome back, despite the president s claim yesterday that hate has no place in our country, his advisers have recently said that sewing division based on identity is part of his 2020 campaign. Quoting from the aps report, trumps reelection strategy has placed racial animus at the forefront, designed to activate his base of conservative voters, an approach not seen by an american president in the modern era. Trump has been widely criticized for offering a false equivalency when discussing racial violence, knowingly when he said there are good people on both sides. Acting white house chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended President Trump on meet the press against allegations that the president has down played the threat of White Nationalism and his own rhetoric is fuelling violent domestic attacks. Does the president accept that this is a rising problem . Let me answer it this way, i have talked to the president yesterday afternoon, after el paso, texas, was made known to us in the white house. I pick up the phone, call him, the first phone call he makes is to bill barr, he ultimately called the governor of texas, very early this morning, talked to the governor of ohio. The first phone call was to bill barr to find out how we could stop this stuff from happening in the first place. Yes, he feels the same way that we do. He feels the same way that everyone watching the show, apparently with the exception of cory booker and people on your panel, which is saddened and anger. We have moved straight past any sympathy for the victims, straight past what caused this and trying to figure out whos to blame. Ill ask this question, was Bernie Sanders responsible for when my friends got shot playing baseball, i dont think that he was. Was alexandria ocasiocortez responsible when someone went up to a concentration camp. Was she responsible, i dont think she was. If a member of this administration who someone on your panel, i couldnt see the faces, called out today as a white nationalist, if that person gets injured today, is the person on your panel responsible . Meanwhile, multiple members of congress are calling for lawmakers to return to washington from summer recess and address gun violence. Its heartbreaking. Humidi how many times do we have to keep watching this. Im calling on congress to get back from the session and the august recess and reiterate the passage, the bill that we passed in the house on background checks, schumer and mcconnell need to go back into session. Bill we need an assault weapons ban. Mitch mcconnell should bring us back into session on monday. The house of representatives has passed a background check. We can fly back into washington on monday morning. We could pass the background check bill, and people could fly back and be home for dinner, and the president needs to sign this bill. We should call the senate back into session. Congress should be called back into session. We should vote right now on three measures, universal background checks, making sure we actually ban assault rifles and large magazines, and have a federal antigun trafficking law. Still ahead, the antiimmigrants creed being attributed to the shooter, on web sites that fuel hate violence. Were taking a look at the troubling trend, coming up next. Troubling trend, coming up next. The antiimmigrant, antigovernment documents attributed to the el paso shooter, bring to attention a troubling trend, web sites that Service Forums for online hate. Jo ling kent has the details. Reporter tipping off investigators before the el paso, attacks is pulling back the curtain on the darkest corner of the internet, and unveiling a digital breeding ground for domestic terrorism. This is where it happens now. Web sites like 8 chan and 4 chan are allowing the sinister undertones of White Nationalism to go mainstream. This is a place where white nationalists go to hang out, talk to each other, and urge each other to commit crimes or worse, mass murder. The suspect posted a pdf of his plans on 8chan, but that wasnt enough time for the fbi to react. Clearly there was not enough time for Law Enforcement to be able to use that information to intercept this mass killer. Its not possible. Reporter nbc Law Enforcement expert Jim Kavanaugh says federal surveillance is not allowed. In that posting detailing his plans, the suspected shooter expressed his support for the shooter in new zealand at a massac massacre earlier this year, targeting muslims and killing over 50 people in Christ Church, posting his own diatribe with a link to the live streams of the slayings on facebook. A copy cat posted his own speech on a similar site before shooting up a san diego synagogue. At a Senate Hearing last month, the director of the fbi saying the agency has made some hundred arrests related to domestic terrorism since october. A majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we have investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence. Domestic terrorism is different from what the fbi calls home grown violent extremism inspired by global jihadists. Nbc news reporter, ben collins said the racially motivated terror taking root on the internet is not far off from classic terror cells. Its internet driven, all people in different basements throughout the world sort of coming together to hate things. Our thanks to nbcs jo ling kent for that report. Still ahead, we are continuing to follow the latest out of el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio, were going to get live reports from both cities next. The Top Republican in the house, Kevin Mccarthy said video games are partly to blame. Were going to show you those new comments and much more. W yo new comments and much mo re welcome back, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside Ayman Mohyeldin. It is the bottom of the hour. Lets start with the mornings top stories. We begin in el paso, texas, where federal prosecutors are treating that horrific mass shooting inside walmart as a case of domestic terrorism. The u. S. Attorney there says his office is investigating the 21yearold white male suspect whom we will not name for hate crime charges and firearm charges which carry a penalty of death. The el paso, District Attorney also says his office will seek the death penalty. Officials say the suspect drove about ten hours to get to the El Paso Walmart that was packed with backtoschool shoppers on saturday morning and opened fire, killing 20 people and wounding 26 more. The El Paso Police chief says the suspect surrendered without incident. Were told he is speaking freely and has been forthcoming with information. About 20 minutes before the shooting, a hate filled diatribe appeared online believed to be linked to the shooter and specifically mentioned a quote hispanic invasion of texas. Lets talk about some of the reaction from 2020 candidates, former democratic congressman and 2020 hopeful, beto orourke spoke out over the weekend on the deadly shooting in the city he previously represented and linked the violence in el paso directly to President Trumps rhetoric. We know that theres a lot of injury, a lot of suffering in el paso right now. I am incredibly saddened and it is very hard to think about this. But ill tell you el paso is the strongest place in the world. This community is going to come together. Im going back there right now to be with my family and to be with my hometown. I hope that were going to be able to help lead this country in ensuring that this does not continue to happen, that this is not the new normal. Some preliminary signs that this was motivated by hatred, but racism, specifically against immigrants here in a community that is 85 mexican american, where nearly a quarter of those with whom i live were born in another country. The kind of place that donald trump has warned the rest of america about, talking about invasions and caravans and mexican immigrants being rapist and criminals, despite the fact that el paso is one of the safest cities in the United States of America Today and has been for the last 20 years. We have to put an end to it. And beto orourke will have more on the shooting in el paso coming up on morning joe. Officials have not yet officially identified the victims but some family members have come forward to say their loved ones are among the dead. One story about a 25yearold mother, jordan oncondo who was shot and killed while apparently shielding her 2monthold son from the gunfire. She and her husband andre were buying School Supplies. He was also killed, according to relatives. Family members say he died shielding his wife while she died protecting their newborn. Were told the 2monthold was treated for broken bones, the result of his mothers fall. Lets cross back over to el paso, and bring in msnbcs phillip mena whos actually from el paso, texas, and has a unique perspective on how this has played out. Lets start with the latest on the suspect. What have we been able to learn about him so far from this investigation . Reporter so far, good morning, 21yearold Patrick Crusias is in custody as he drove from dallas to el paso, and opened fire at the walmart behind me, killing 20 people, injuring dozens more. He is being treated as a domestic terrorist and authorities are considering federal hate crimes after it was revealed that he wrote antiimmigrant rhetoric on a web site called 8chan. Like you mentioned, this is deeply personal to me. I was born here, and i was raised here, and my family still lives here to this day. It was so difficult to hear the news as it was unfolding on saturday. I was getting Text Messages from my mom. She was talking to me about my aunt and my cousin who were inside that mall in the chaos when it began, people thought there might be another shooter or the shooter had gone to the mall adjacent from the walmart here, and so they started to lock it down. They ran out and they were out safely thankfully, but 20 families, as i mentioned, theyre not going to be able to come home. 20 families that are going to be grieving because of this. It is also deeply personal because my own brother is a firefighter here for the El Paso Fire Department and he was among the First Responders that arrived to see that carnage, and talking to friends and family here, this has a deeply and profoundly affected this community for the rest of their lives. Phillip, talking to us about how the community is handling all of this. Reporter its something that nobody has ever faced here before. First, it was shock, grief, anger, there are vigils all over the city here. They are having Prayer Services at different churches around here. They are trying to figure out as they got. Like i said, nobody here has faced anything like that before. They are using social media, i must say, which is something that theyre embracing as a way for basically a communal hug, a way to try to cope with some of this. It is a mix of these vigils that are spread across the city and social media and they also shut down stores that have that are miles away from here on saturday and for the weekend, just out of respect for the victims of this senseless tragedy. To phillips point, its a close knit community, its hard to imagine anyone has not been affected by this, friends, family or neighbors. Phillip mena, in el paso, texas. Hours after the mass shooting in el paso, another gunman opened fire outside a popular bar in dayton, ohio. Nine people killed, 27 others were injured. You see Surveillance Footage showing people running away as the shooting got underway. The gunman was wearing body armour, began shooting around 1 00 a. M. In daytons historic oregon district. Surveillance video we are putting up shows people running for their lives as the shooting got underway. The shooter, a 24yearold white male was killed by police within 30 seconds of the first shots being fired. It is just incredible to think of the reality we are now facing after having a weekend behind us and covering two basically Mass Shootings with so many people losing their lives. We want to go now live todayt to dayton, ohio, where kathy park is live. What more are we learning about the possible motive here . Reporter the motive is still very much a mystery. The police chief touched upon that, and said it was a little too premature to speculate exactly why he carried out what he did but i do want to point out behind me here, this powerful image. We are standing right in front of the bar where the shooting happened shortly after 1 00. And yesterday, i was out here in the afternoon. This area was roped off and the ground was littered with evidence markers, and then shortly after that, the crews came in here and washed the sidewalks of debris as well as the blood, and it reopened just after 6 00 last night, which i thought was pretty incredible, and then they had that powerful vigil shortly after they cleaned everything up. But just a little bit more on the investigation. We were told yesterday a little bit more about the time line of this shooting. It happened 1 05 a. M. That is the exact time when the first gunshots rang out, and then 30 seconds after that is when officers cornered the suspect and eventually killed that individual but heres a little bit more perspective on the police chief as the investigation continues. Any suggestion at this time of motive would be irresponsible, we do not have sufficient information to answer the question that Everyone Wants to know, why. We do not have that answer at this time. We will clearly pursue this investigation to try to understand motivation in this crime, assuming that there is a motivation thats understandable. And the chief also added that the suspect didnt have any red flags. His criminal background just minor traffic violations, but what i thought was really interesting, i think what kind of took us back yesterday during the press conference is the fact that he arrived in the same car as his sister who happens to be one of the victims as well. Megan bets and there was another individual in the car. There are a lot of questions swirling as to what happened when they arrived and separated. And the timing of this on the heels of what happened in texas raised questions as to whether there was any kind of motivation or inspiration from the texas shooting to this one. Kathy park live from dayton, ohio. The New York Times reports the fbi has said more americans have died in domestic terrorist attacks than international ones since september 11th and domestic terrorism is increasingly motivated by white supremacist ideology. Chris wray said the agency has made some 100 arrests related to domestic terrorism since october. I will say that a majority of the domestic terrorism cases that we have investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence. Still ahead, much more on the top shooting, one Top Republican claiming video games are to vio well break down the likelihood that the Senate Majority leader actually acts next. S next welcome back, everyone. Texass two republican senators have weighed in on the el paso, shooting. In a statement senator ted cruz said as the son of a cuban immigrant, this ignorant racism is profoundly antiamerican, we must speak clearly to combat terrorism in any form. We saw a heinous act of terrorism and White Supremacy. There is no place in that for el paso. John cornyn, i spent some of my early years dwroeg growing up i paso. His twisted vision will not succeed. Senator cornyn spoke with msnbc. Law asiding citizens can keep and bear arms in our constitution. I believe in the bill of rights. I know that people who are mentally ill. People who have committed felonies who are disqualified from purchasing firearms and other dangerous young people like this young man, we need to find a way to stop them for their own protection as well as the protection of the community, but i would rather get to the root causes rather than the inanimate object of the firearm itself because we know that the person is the one whos pulling the trigger, its not the weapon itself. So in the wake of the weekends two deadly Mass Shootings, House Minority leader Kevin Mccarthy suggested violent video games are to blame when asked about factors leading up to these types of tragedy. The idea these video games to dehumanize individuals, to have a game of shooting individuals and others, ive always felt that is a problem for future generations and others. Weve watched from studies shown before, what it does to individuals. When you look at these foephotof how it took place, you can see the action within video games. Various scientific studies in addition to a 2011 ruling by the Supreme Court found there is no apparent link between playing video games and Mass Shootings. Mitch mcconnell is recovering after falling at his home in kentucky on sunday. His office said in a statement that he tripped on his outside patio, he fractured his shoulder. He has been treated, released and is now working from home in louisville. His injury comes as democrats are demanding he reconvenes the senate to pass legislation after the Mass Shootings in el paso and ohio that left nearly 30 people dead. Joining us once again from washington, political reporter for the hill, julia manchester, good to talk to you again, lets discuss the conversations about reconvening the senate. And whether or not its realistic. After this weekends attacks. Is it realistic, how much of a priority do you think this is . Its possible the senate could reconvene. I dont know if republicans are going to move on that, especially Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, were hearing sherrod brown, the senator from ohio really push for this, and i think a lot of democrats want to push for legislation on background checks and trying to restrict background checks. I dont know if necessarily republicans are in the position right now to really want to be able to do something about this. Unfortunately, although these tragedies are obviously quite big and, you know, have a huge impact on the country, you know, as i said before, i think the National Rifle association, the gun lobby, still is so, has such an impact on republican senators, republican lawmakers so its unclear as to whether theyll move on this. What has been the reaction when you look at the spectrum of 2020 president ial candidates and a lot of them have been weighing in on the issue of Mass Shootings. Some of them have maede it one f the signature issues for them generally. How might these instances impact the next election cycle, whether any of them want to take on gun control as a major policy issue in the election. I think its going to impact the president ial election in a huge way. Democrats obviously are very much more in favor of gun restrictions. They will continue to push for that, and they will use these Mass Shootings as a reason to push for that and a reason to say we need these restrictions, but were also seeing a lot of president ial candidates, most notably, beto orourke, whose former Congressional District is in el paso, essentially say that President Trump is responsible for this hateful rhetoric has driven a lot of these, you know, these violent hate driven acts, and like we saw in el paso, so i think youll see more of that conversation really go on among democrats. It will be interesting it see how the eventual nominee confronts President Trump on the debate stage. I have a question about how republicans, members of the president s inner circle feel about the accusations being levelled against him that he has fla flamed some of the racism in this country with his rhetoric. As the ap has reported and jonathan lemire, this is part of his Campaign Strategy for 2020 but after this weekend, the democrats are really trying to pin directly the increase, i guess, if you will, of the rhetoric to the president s leadership and his own personal style. Democrats are really going to push this in the election, but you know, i think for President Trump, his defense, and you saw this with his chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney over the weekend, theyll say racism was around before donald trump, hate was around before donald trump, which is absolutely true, but i think democrats are really going to try to come at it as he is only stoking these flames of hatred and racism with this rhetoric, but, you know, the president and the republicans and his allies will say that this is something thats, you know, going on way before him. They will know, and its important to note that the Charleston Shooting in which several africanamericans were killed at that church, happened before President Trumps administration, so you know, its just a very complicated time in our countrys history. Yujulia manchester, thank yo very much. Democratic congressman and 2020 hopeful tim ryan speaks out on the shooting in his home state. President trump facing increasing pressure over his rhetoric. Details on a study connecting a dot between the president s rallies and an uptick in hate crimes in those communities. Well be right back. E crimes in those communities. Well be right back. Stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. What if you had fewer headaches and migraines a month . Botox® prevents headaches and migraines before they even start. Botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month, each lasting 4 hours or more. Botox® injections take about 15 minutes in your Doctors Office and are covered by most insurance. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Dont receive botox® if theres a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. With the botox® savings program, most people with commercial insurance pay nothing out of pocket. Talk to your doctor and visit botoxchronicmigraine. Com to enroll. Welcome back. In the wake of this weekends mass shooting, ohio representative, and democratic president ial candidate tim ryan said that the el paso suspects online posting and the rhetoric at President Trumps rallies are almost identical. The president has been said throws jet fuel on these fires that are burning, incites, i read that manifesto this morning a couple of times, and it is like a trump rally. I mean, there are basically the same phrases in that manifesto that you would hear come out of the president of the United States mouth and thats the most disgusting part of the whole thing. So while all of this was happening over the weekend, and as you can imagine, wii getting were getting reaction from everyone. And the white house senior a adviser, ivanka trump, as our nation mourns the senseless loss of life in el paso, texas, and dayton, ohio, we must also raise our voices in rejection of the heinous, and cowardly acts of hate. She posted this tweet, White Supremacy is an evil that must be destroyed. And hate crime violence in the u. S. Has increasingly risen since donald trump became president. According to the fbis latest report, there were 7,106 instances of hate crimes just in 2017. Thats a 17 increase from the prior year and marks the highest hate crime levels since 2008. The report found that 58 of the victims were targeted because of their race, their ethnicity or. 50 of the offenders of the crimes were white, according to the fbi. A study by the Washington Post found that counties that had hosted a 2016 Trump Campaign rally saw a 226 increase in reported hate crimes over comparable counties that did not host such a rally. The paper did note their analysis cannot be certain it was trumps Campaign Rally rhetoric that caused people to commit more hate crimes in the host county. Mexico is vowing to take legal action against the United States for failing to protect its citizens on its soil. Of the 20 people killed, at least 7 were mexican citizens. Mexican foreign minister said that the country could seek to extradite the gunman on a terrorism charge and were planning legal action against the seller who provided the shooter with a weapon. He called the shooting unacceptable and an act after barbarism. His countrys First Priority is attending to the families affected by the tragedy, and will seek action to protect mexican nationals and mexican americans inside the u. S. Lets take a turn for a moment and get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Happy to report, it looks like its going to be a pretty fairly quiet week. Nothing in the tropics. This is getting toward the peak of the season, hawaii looks safe. The only danger is a chance of severe thunderstorms. We have some rolling from bismarck to fargo towards aberdeen. Later today, these storms will continue and actually intensify further to the south. We have a risk of severe winds and hail today from our friends from areas of nebraska, des moines, ames, rochester, minneapolis, central wisconsin, and late tonight, the storms will make their way toward milwaukee. They may hold together, towards chicago. The other dangerous weather, extreme heat in the areas of desert southwest, by arizona standards and southern california, this is going to be a very hot day today. Temperatures easily above 110 in the desert area, some areas, 115. Phoenix, well call you 112 today vegas, 111. Heat wave today. Well see afternoon storms in the southeast, south florida, kind of the typical weather pattern you have been in lately. If theres one bad travel day this week, if you need to know for the airports, it looks like wednesday afternoon, pretty good line of showers and thunderstorms should be rolling through areas of the northeast. That could be another bad airport day. Thursday, that system leaves and then on friday, a few storms in the Tennessee Valley but you notice its a very warm, summer like pattern and were not talking anything in the tropics. Thats great. Thanks, bill. The nation is left reeling in the wake of backtoback shootings this weekend. The latest on the violence in el paso, and dayton as communities search for answers and demand action to keep similar tragedies from happening again. Were going to have a live report from on the ground in both of those cities. Were back in less than three minutes. Stay with us. In less than thre minutes. Stay with us two more Mass Shootings in america on saturday morning, a gunman opened fire in el paso, texas leaving 20 people dead. Less than 24 hours later, in dayton, ohio, a shooter opened fire leaving nine dead. The man in el paso believe he posted a hatefilled statement and parts mirror President Trumps antiimmigrant rhetoric. Good morning. It is monday, august 5. Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside Yasmin Vossoughian. We begin in el paso, texas where federal prosecutors are using