Man manna manafort which means this deal has not been reached yet. They were first indicted in october including conspiracy and none of those charges involve into the Trump Campaign itself. Were going to dive in more this hour but we begin with the larger story in american politics these days. With poison pills, trump tweets the nra and base politics. Folks, yesterdays emotional white house meeting on gun reform may have been a sign that something might happen but the last 24 hours have been a sobering reminder of how difficult it is to do anything on this issue. And a lot of it starts with the president s base. They rally behind a pair of nra speakers at todays annual cpac gathering of what you might say is the hard core trump conservative base outside of washington today. The nra threw out pretty much every conservative buzzword you could think of. These were speeches to rally support for guns. By basically rattling off an enemy list for the president s supporters. Here is a sampling. Many in legacy media love mass shootings. Where is the cnn town hall for sanctuary cities. Loretta lynch, Hillary Clinton investigation and the people at the salon and think progress and media matters. Nancy pelosi bernie sanders. Kamala harris, elizabeth warren, bill de blasio, andrew cuomo. Black lives matter. Obama, george sorrows, michael bloomberg, tom steyer. The european style socialist of college campuses. Carl marx. Berkeley, some hollywood gala. See, were not making that up. That was all from the heads of the organization whose job it is to do one thing sell guns. And today the president threw his support behind the nra longstanding proposal to arm schools. The president said arming hundreds of thousands of School Officials could, quote, solve the problem instantly. Here he is earlier today at the white house. When they see it said this is a gunfree zone, that means that nobody has a gun except them. Nobody is going to be shooting bullets in the other direction. And they see that as such a beautiful target. They live for gunfree zones. In my opinion, you wont have the shootings because these people are cowards. They are not going to walk into a school if 20 of the teachers have guns and maybe 10 or maybe 40 and what i would recommend doing is the people that do carry, we give them a bonus. We give them a little bit of a bonus. Frankly they would feel more comfortable having the gun any way. But while the president is wrapping his around arms around a nra proposal but he is bucking to raise the minimum age for rifle owners. But arming schools is a poison pill for democrats and might be a deal breaker for some republicans too. The notion that my kids are going to school with teachers that are armed with a weapon is not something that quite frankly im comfortable with. But as a father and as someone talked to plenty of teachers including the three in my family and the assistant principal in my family, i dont think that is a goodoid yar idea. And in an election year, we know from past experience republicans fear the base on the issue of gun control but you have to wonder if there are democrats that fear the Republican Base more than their own base. For instance, look at the pennsylvania special election for congress in that 18th district. The democratic candidate Connor Graham could pull an upset in a district that trump won by 20 points but he isnt calling on any new laws. As the local Pittsburgh Press noted hes using the same talking points as his opponent on this issue. So what now . There is no doubt this moment feels different. But does that mean weve hit an in flexion point on the gun debate. Were going to kick things off and first jump to cpac and host of kasie dc is at cpac where we heard from the nra chief who spoke for the First Time Since last weeks shooting. So this was not about looking for any middle ground, was it . Reporter not at all, chuck. This was i think sending a very strong public message and quite frankly this is where the nra has been on gun policy questions in the last five to ten years. It has been an adjustment since the early 90s for them as an organization from an organization that wanted a seat at the table behind the scenes in congress as some of the things were worked out to one that quite frankly is instead killing a lot of attempts to push any sort of gun measures through and we saw this in the wake of the newtown shootings when there were some indications that privately the nra might support expanding background checks, but then ultimately the public pressure meant they couldnt and that is coming from newer entrances to the scene, the gun owners of america and other groups so to speak. I think the point you make at the top of your show is a fas flati flate fascinating one. Ive talked to a democrat from a purple state who is looking at this kind of with new eyes and thinking, actually maybe it makes sense for my candidate to run against the nra for the first time. When didnt make sense before because this is such an issue for suburban voters and there are some republicans i would say Ryan Costello because of the redistricting in pennsylvania, hes always said to me in the hallway, guns are not a winning issue. As think vote voting for concealed Andres Ip Rossi is something in my district. So it will split the party in two and on the senate side they are looking at red state wheres this isnt necessarily going to be an issue they want to tackle. I think there is a reason you havent seen Chuck Schumer who always has been a very public face on gun control issues as Senate Democratic leader with arguably six or seven incumbent democrats in red states hes not backing away he did tweet today. I doesnt want to be the face. Reporter they did put something out today. But it doesnt make sense for the members. If Heidi Heitkamp wants to this is not a winning issue in a rural state. But if you look at places where a general election is going to be fought for president and where frankly the house is going to rest, yes, there are some potentially rural districts and connor la connor lamb is a good example but this is won and lost in the suburbs, im preaching to the choir here. But this issue is completely different in those areas. Kasie hunt, enjoy cpac. It is always to me something every reporter should experience at least once. Theyve banned costumes, chuck. It is much different. We have a president in the white house and we have to all button down. It is better when it is conserveacon. And i want to talk about this divide in the democratic part yif. Joining me is John Hickenlooper of colorado. And you are in town so welcome. Glad to be back. You are the epitome of a democrat that has been straddling the fence between gun culture and gun control and colorado is it is a state that epitomizes the clash of these two cultures. Can you bridge this divide . Youre trying, but is it a bridgeable divide . I think it is like anything else, Public Senate plays a big role. Lincolns old quote, without it nothing could succeed. I think this might be im not sure if it is a tipping point. Ive had republicans very wealthy who ive known for years who have always supported the parry no matter what are are now saying they are now saying they wont support or fund people that are resisting gun control. What changed you . After aurora you were his tants to make a bunch of changes. After newtown, you said lets have this conversation again. So it is walk me through your evolution on this . Well i went out there to the aurora moving theatyer shooting in 2013, early part of summer, at the scene you walk through and see the video tapes of the inside of the theater and it is chilling. And clearly from the accounts there was a great deal of Mental Health issues involved. So that is where we focus on Mental Health. We put 30 million in the budget. After newtown, it wasnt it is more than that. And i think you begin looking at these assault weapons and the huge the large capacity magazine and we just felt universal background checks, i went back and looked at the s t stat statistics. I remember them. We had 38 people convicted of homicide who tried to buy a gun and we stopped them. How can anybody argue with the universal background checks. You did have a couple of state lawmakers get recalled over their vote on this. I remember. And it was not an easy part for your reelection. So what does the Democratic Party do here . You see this connor lamb and this is a democrat trying to win in Trump Country and guns it is not a policy debate. It is a cultural issue. It is an issue of freedom and they take it they want to be left alone and live their lives and dont want government in washington or government in denver telling them what to do. You have to go incrementally, universal backgrounds are a place to start. Bump stocks, we outlawed tommy submachine guns in 1933 or 34. They are the weapons of the military grade weapons. There is a line there that well get to where militarygrade weapons will raise the age, well get to 21 years at least for military grade weapons. Take thosin incremental steps first. Are you ready to prose this before you leave office. I will talk with republican leadership. It is not just democrats that are rattled. There is no doubt. Suburban republicans are rattled on one hand and rural democrats are rattled for different reasons. Absolutely. And if you were to look at, it you want to harm this country. Say you are sitting in a basement in lennongrad and plotting to harm america, who is more affective than to make American Children too scared to go to school and when they are in school to focus. You said during your Reelection Campaign you thought to a group of sheriffs, you thought there were things you could have done better when you wrote the law. So give some advice. There are a lot of states looking at the colorado model since this is a state that has a thriving gun culture and a growing suburb and you bridged the divide and made some incremental moves here. What are some advice you would what mistakes did you make that somebody else should avoid. It is hard when you get into the specifics of a bill, there is a level of animosity and anger that comes out of nowhere. And i think we respond to that with just kind of closed down and shop a little bit. I think you have to you have to go out to the people that are so sell this is what you are saying. And listen. Not so much sell. We have to go out and sell it and pitch it. The only way i learned this in the restaurant business, the only way to persuade people to change their mind is by listening harder. Making them feel heard. Senator brian schatz from hawaii, he wrote this today, he normally am all for compromise, not this time. I cannot imagine a bill that would make a difference that the nra supports. We dont need to cut a deal with them, we need to beat them. Is that a viable strategy . I understand his personal sentiment. He represents hawaii. And hawaii doesnt have the same gun culture at colorado, a tougher vote for Michael Bennett than brian schatz. How do you deal with that animosity. It is frustrating that the nra seems not removable. I called republicans and Civic Leaders and chairman of the board of the art museum and everyone supported a background checks but i couldnt get a single republican vote in our general assembly. The nra has drawn a line and there is not compromise but you have to push and say we want responsible, reasonable gun control. Were not trying to take everybodys guns away. And the schools it is a place of assembly and worship, were it is were allowing ourselves to be terrorized. What is the tangible next step President Trump should try to take . Think raising the age limit is a good first step. That is something hes come out. And bumping stocks, he said he wants to ban them as well. Do two or three things to show the American People that you can make changes. And what happens if conceal carry res ciprocity is a part o the compromise. Does that undermine the reform in your mind. It undermines it there are a bunch of charts if you look, you look at the amount of reasonable gun control in communities and the amount of gun deaths for 100,000 people it goes down with good control. Putting more conceal carry i havent seen any statistics that demonstrates any kind of in crease or improvement in safety. And what about arming schools . Teachers . So colorado has 940 or 950 schools, going to spend a Million Dollars a year on 800,000 a year paying guards and they are armed or training teachers. That money has got to come from somewhere. It will come out of teachers. And when i was mayor, my first four years i visited every Public School in denver. No one told me there were 161. Teachers dont want to carry guns. Most dont. Some do. But that wouldnt improve anything and it is very expensive and a huge amount of training. So those two things what is Something Else that you think colorado would do . Before you leave . One of the things were looking at in addition to bump stocks and looking at how can we get to a place where people are having Mental Health issue could be detained more than just 24 hours, but maybe 72 hours or if parents or immediate Family Member and we think theyre a threat to themselves or to others, in colorado and getting that information into the background check system. That is a good first step. If you are expelled from school, that is not put in the background check. That is part of the same thing. How do you create a system to begin looking at people that have had episodes, clear episodes where they are mentally unstable. John hickenlooper. Governor of colorado. Thank you for coming on. Enjoy your time here in washington. You have to pretend you hate it but it is not a bad place to visit. Coming up Robert Mueller just unveiled the new charges at the top of the show against Paul Manafort. Well dib dig in dig into tha youll need a shovel for that. And this week on meet the press ill talk with pat toomey during the Gun Control Movement and hes think being expanding background checks this time. Well talk about it on sunday with him. Well be right back. To replace your totaled new car. The guy says they didnt make the mistake. You made the mistake. I beg your pardon . He says, you should have chosen fullcar replacement. Excuse me . Let me be frank, he says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no. I picked the wrong insurance company. with Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Lets team up to get the lady of the house back on her feet. And help her feel more strength and energy in just two weeks yaaay the complete balanced nutrition of great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Ensure. Always be you. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back. Today former Trump Campaign chairman Paul Manafort and rick gates face new charges in the special counsel russia investigation. Manafort and gates faced a 12 counts indictment in october. Well look at the new round of legal pressure means in 60 seconds. To go. With the united mileageplus explorer card, youll get a free checked bag. Two united club passes. Priority boarding. And earn fifty thousand bonus miles after you spend three thousand dollars on purchases in the first three months from account opening plus, zerodollar intro annual fee for the first year, then ninetyfive dollars. Learn more at theexplorercard. Com welcome back. Lets get to tonights panel. Dan malls, matthew couldntinenty and maria kumar. I want to get ill deal with the Paul Manafort indictment and then to this gun debate that is a intering conversation with hickenlooper. The Paul Manafort indictment and the manafort part of the case is is in some ways, it is the hardest to follow because it is so deep with financial ties but it is an indictment on what i believe is on how washington works with foreign what mueller is exposing is the dirty underbelly of k. Street and alliance where Paul Manafort was the king of all of it. It doesnt have anything to do with the rest of the investigation having to do with what happened with the Trump Campaign per se. We dont know. It is possible. He could be used to infiltrate folks. And that is we dont know that piece. I guess im saying that presumably part of this is exactly what you are talking about. It is where were following the money leads to an exposure of practices that were perhaps common but on the edge of the law and in manaforts case, according to mueller, beyond the law. But what that will have to do with the rest of the case, we dont know. It is another reminder of the many threads there is multiple threads with mueller. And hes moving in a lo a t of places and it doesnt or does all come together but that doesnt lessen the significance of what he is exposing with Paul Manafort and gates. And while it hasnt been said in either indictment, it seems obviously who missed around with the republican platform. Im sorry. It is like plana for t man was managing it and he has the ukrainian clients and now it is gone. It doesnt take a brain surgery to follow those leads. That is where it does touch trump. I think the association of manafort with the Trump Campaign has kind of pushed a lot of the Trump Administration into actually more kind of hawkish role agains