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"the reidout" starts now. ♪♪ tonight on "the reidout" -- >> under no circumstances you are promising america tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. >> except for -- >> he's going crazy. except for day one. >> meaning? >> i want to close the border and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> that's not -- >> no, no. >> that's not retribution. >> i'm going to be -- i'm going to -- you know, he keeps -- we love this guy. he says you're not going to be a dictator, are you? i say, no, no, no, other than day one. the day one american dictator whose plans for a second presidency are right out of the play book of venezuelan dictator nicolas maduro. seek vengeance against your opponents, muzzle the press, call off elections. former trump lawyer michael cohen joins me. plus, new reporting on the almost 200 person witness list in trump's georgia election interference case. including pence, barr and bannon. but we begin tonight with a uniquely american tragedy. another school shooting. this time at the university of nevada las vegas. three law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told nbc that at least three people are dead. this is not including the shooter. of course, the number of victims could change as the extent of injuries remains unknown. the las vegas metropolitan police department said there is no more threat to the community, and that the suspect is dead. they is also said that one victim is in critical condition at a local area hospital. what we don't know are the who and the why. or whether there even was a motive. their next press conference is expected at 8:00 p.m. east coast time. the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history also took place in las vegas, in october, 2017. when a gunman unleashed a rapid fire barrage of bullets on the strip from his hotel room. the shooting claimed 59 lives and injured more than 500, including attending a music festival on the ground below. that massacre occurred about three miles from where today's shooting occurred. joining me now is nbc news correspondent emilie ikeda with more. emilie, do we have any further information ahead of this press conference? >> joy, still very much and understandably so rapidly-developing situation. we know this is an all hands on deck approach. the fbi, atf, u.s. marshals, local police, campus police all participating in this active investigation into what has claimed the lives of at least three people, according to police. we know another person is in critical condition. and also, the suspect in this active shooter incident playing out earlier today is also deceased. what we've learned from authorities at this hour is they have been going from building to building and continue to do so over this large campus. the university of nevada las vegas, clearing out the buildings and hoping not to come across more victims. and what they have acknowledged the numbers at this point should be considered fluid at this hour. just before noon, officers responded to reports of an active shooter situation near one of the instructional buildings. they say that they engaged the suspect. the suspect who they say is now deceased. students and professors describing the chaos and confusion on the campus, describing hearing the shots ringing out from what many have described as what they believe to be a high-powered gun. at one point today campus police instructed people to, quote, run, hide, and fight. to give you a sense of just the sheer terror that rang across the campus earlier today. and now the investigation will shift into the why. what was the motive? it's something at this hour they do not know. perhaps we'll learn more about the victims and the potential motive in this incident in an upcoming news conference. the mayor calling it tragic and heart breaking. we're also hearing from president biden who described it as the latest campus to be, quote, terrorized by a horrific act of gun violence. this is a city, las vegas is a city, that is all too familiar with mass shootings. remember, just several years ago, the city saw the worst mass shooting in u.s. history playing out just a few miles from this school along the las vegas strip, joy. >> emilie ikeda, thank you very much. let's bring in congress woman diena titus who represents las vegas. representative titus, you just heard our reporter giving what we know, which is not a lot. but you know, this run, hide, fighted a moe in addition to students has become a mantra that this generation, that young people are supposed to just live with. it seems unacceptable to me to live in a country where what we tell our kids, the best we can do is that when somebody decides to shoot up your campus, run, hide and fight. your thoughts? >> i taught on that campus for 35 years. exactly. the shooting at mandalay bay was also in my district. so, we have some practice unfortunately dealing with this. and i think all the authorities did a good job. but you're right. we have a whole generation of college students who have lived under the cloud of my campus could be next. and so, this is something that doesn't go away just because you're told you're safe and you can evacuate. it stays with you forever. not just the people of family of those who are the victims, but of all the students and faculty and staff who are on the campus today. >> have you had an opportunity to speak with local authorities or with any of these families to get some idea of, you know, anything about this shooter, whether this person was in any way connected to the campus or had there been any threats to the campus or anything like that? >> we have been in constant touch with the president's office, president whitfield and also with metro there. but it's been a real coordinated effort with metro and the fbi, the campus cops who immediately got out that message to run, hide, fight. so, we have updates as we go, but we don't know motives yet. that will be the next step in the investigation. looking through the social media, trying to find contacts where he got the gun, that sort of thing. >> are guns, firearms allowed on college campuses in nevada? >> no, they're not. there are signs that are around that say you cannot carry a gun or weapon on the campus. but, you know, we keep trying at the federal level to standardize some provisions, like doing away with fast-acting machinery, to do away with bump stocks, to do away with multiple ammunition clips. we just can't get it passed through congress because the republicans are bound by the nra. so we just keep sending thoughts and prayers and people are ready for action. so some of the states have taken it up. some of them not. >> and we know that this shooting took place not far from where the deadliest mass shooting in u.s. history took place about three miles away from this campus. and yet your governor has vetoed recently gun control measures that would actually make it more difficult for people to obtain firearms and adding some things that would add some age restrictions, et cetera. what has the governor said? have you had a chance to talk with him? and has he reconsidered now that this state is home to yet another mass shooting his position? >> well, i hope he would reconsider. we need those red flag laws. the state legislature has been aggressive and public opinion in nevada supports stronger background checks. i was just ironically looking at "the washington post" magazine this weekend that had pictures of the shooting at mandalay bay at the festival there. and here it is happening again. it's just tragic. >> and what is the status of attempting to get some sort of federal legislation through? we know that the president has had to do some things through executive orders. there's not a lot of appetite to do gun reform obviously among republicans in either the house or the senate. is there any hope that there's any amount of carnage? we have now seen third graders, fourth graders, high school students, college students, people at parades, people in the movie theater. >> church. >> no place safe from these tragedies and these massacres, is there any appetite among your colleagues to do something, anything about it? >> well, we have a gun violence prevention caucus. and we have introduced this legislation and done discharge petitions calling on the leadership to release these for a vote. but we never get enough signatures. just today schumer tried to get something through the senate and the republicans shot it down. there's always a little flurry after an incident like this and then it quickly gets forgotten. but i hope those organizations like moms demand action don't let them forget and remember, during the next election who thinks this is a problem and who just wants to see it go away. >> you could say that again because i think that is what people don't understand is that the one thing that people actually can do in this situation is to vote for people who actually want to protect kids from getting shot at school or on campuses. is this going to be an election issue in the next election? is this something that the public is concerned enough about that they might vote to change who is representing them in congress based on these massacres? >> i believe it will be because law and order is a big issue, and protection of your children is certainly at the top of the list, especially among suburban women. so i think you will see this play out in the next election. you can't go anywhere, you can't even go to church and feel like you're safe. >> indeed, indeed. and with our great condolences for those who passed away or who were injured or harmed in your district. congresswoman diena titus, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> cheers. up next on "the reidout," don't worry, folks. donald trump says he will only act like a dictator on day one of a potential second presidency. don't believe it. "the reidout" continues after this. ues after this i was born ten weeks early without my left arm. with my polio, i have tough days and my pain just pops out, out of nowhere. there's nothing to be afraid of because all the doctors are all so nice. when somebody sees these commercials there'll be a phone number on a screen and all they have to do is call and make a donation to help kids like me. thanks to a generous donor, every dollar you give can help twice as many kids like me and have double the impact. when you join with us, we'll send you one of these adorable blankets as a thank you and reminder of all the abilities you are helping make possible. merry christmas! please call the number on your screen and give just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day or whatever you can to help kids like us this christmas. and when you do, your gift will have two times the impact. on this show, we like to use the phrase "scaring is caring "in the spirit of caring, i would like to tell you the story about an authoritarian strong man elected to office and decided he just didn't want to leave. so he didn't. and that is the leader of venezuela, nicolas maduro. since taking power in 2013, maduro and his regime have not only cracked down on protesters, jailed opponents and muzzled the press, but have made it so he simply can't lose elections, no matter how unpopular he or his policies may be. in 2017, when faced with massive protests of venezuelans demanding his ouster, maduro called for a new constitution claiming the opposition was trying to illegally overthrow his government. in february of 2018, he decided that the supposed election, which was slated for december of that year, was actually going to happen months earlier, in may. he then banned multiple opposition parties from participating, making himself the winner. which appears to be something he's trying to recreate ahead of next year's, quote unquote, election. once again banning top opposition leaders from running, including the leading candidate, who was barred from -- who was barred for alleged political crimes. what is maduro doing instead of giving the venezuelan people the power to vote him out, well, he's trying to invade guyana. they approved a referendum to claim sovereignty over the oil-rich area of guyana, arguing it was stolen when the border was drawn more than a century ago. these stories don't often get told in american mainstream media but it's important we pay attention, because right now, we are getting dangerously close to seeing a very similar scenario play out here in the united states. as donald trump inches closer to the republican nomination for president. trump and his allies made clear that if re-elected, his entire agenda would be focussed on ridding the government of all democratic safeguards so he can go after political opponents and anyone he deems disloyal. and probably stay in office until nature takes its course. but last night he took it one step further, at a friendly fox town hall, sean hannity actually asked trump whether he would abuse his powers to seek retribution and trump did not deny it. >> under no circumstances, you are promising america tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. >> except for day one. >> except for -- >> he's going crazy. except for day one. >> meaning? >> i want to close the border, and i want to drill, drill, drit. >> that's not -- >> no, no. that's not retribution. hang on. >> i'm going to be -- you know, he keeps -- we love this guy. he says you're not going to be a dictator, are you? i say, no, no, no, other than day one. >> but hannity didn't see that coming. trump may have tried to play it off as a joke, but if you heard anything he said in the past year or two, you know he's not kidding. and it's not just him. it's also the sycophants he surrounds himself with like steve bannon and kash patel. >> kash, i know you're probably going to be head of the cia, but do you believe that you can deliver the goods on this in a pretty short order of first couple months so we can get rolling on prosecutions? >> yes. one thing we learned in the trump administration the first go around is we got to put an all american patriots top to bottom. we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government but in the media, yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about american citizens, who helped joe biden rig presidential elections, we're going to come after you. whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out. yeah, we're putting you on notice. >> you better believe if trump is re-elected those two will be top members of his administration. after the break, i'll talk to someone who knows a thing or two about being a footman for donald trump. michael cohen will join me next. . in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? 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( ♪♪ ) and with once-daily trelegy, it can still be beautiful. because with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open for a full 24 hours and prevents future flare-ups. trelegy also improves lung function, so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ [laughing] ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful, all day and night. donald trump claims he would only be a dictator on day one of a potential second presidency. but a trusted adviser from his first term, kash patel, is already drawing up plans to go after his political enemies. and a potential second-term attorney general mike davis, already vowed to throw trump's enemies in a gulag. joining me now is michael cohen, trump's former person lawyer, now the principal of crisis x, also the host of the mea culpa and political beat down podcast and author of "revenge, how donald trump weaponized the department of justice against his critics." michael, good to see you. glad to talk to you. you're one of the few people who experienced being thrown in jail at the behest of donald trump. if you could just remind us of how that went down. you wrote a book. he didn't like it. and then what happened? >> yeah. then what happened was i was lured down to 500 pearl street where i was asked to sign a document that was designed specifically for me that violated my first amendment constitutional right. i was not permitted to speak to media. i couldn't write the book. i couldn't publish the book. i couldn't do work on movies. i couldn't speak to the press. it was a complete and total gag order. well, when myself and my friend, who is a lawyer, jeffrey kayla veen turned around and said, hey, this is a little overbroad and unconstitutional violation of my first amendment right, they had three marshals waiting mets who ultimately remanded me, handcuffed and shackled and remanded me back for another 16 days of solitary confinement at fci otisville. i'm the very first political prisoner held by this country because i refused to waive my first amendment constitutional right. i've been yelling this now from the rooftop for three years. saying if they could do that to me, imagine what they can and will do to you. unfortunately we're at this point right now in american history. >> well, the thing is that -- and i ask you that to start off because i think that people don't take -- they still don't take trump seriously. when he says i'll only be a dictator on day one, people in the audience laughed. i noted also that when he said, i'll close the border and drill. they cheered. but the first thing they did is when he said i'll be a dictator on day one, someone in the audience screamed yeah. and people seemed happy about it. so do you feel that at this point -- it's one of two things. there are either people in this country who actually crave a dictator trump and president for life who is donald trump, or they just don't believe he'll do it. >> either way it doesn't really work. first of all, if he's going to be a dictator on day one, rest assured, i know him better than almost anybody. he won't be a dictator on day two. he will be a king. he will make himself into the furor and make everybody raise their hand and salute him, hail shitler. he is an autocratic wanna be with autocratic tendencies. i brought that lawsuit against the united states government simply because i am afraid, and i have said this