Flynn should withdraw his guilty plea. In the Robert Mueller special counsel investigation. Now, mike flynn of course pled guilty in december, signed a Cooperation Agreement with muellers prosecutors at that time. Conservative media have decided that as he pled guilty, that was a mistake or miscarriage of justice. It is a strange argument. It is so far not making that many waves in Mainstream Media or legal circles. But as you know, when it comes to the scandal and this white house, things have a way of moving very quickly out of the fringes to become the big idea in washington. You should know that is happening out there on the fringe, and well have more this hour including some expert advice that i think will help make some sense out of that strange story. That is percolating out there. Were watching it. We also just tonight got the transcript from the Court Hearing that happened yesterday involving alex van der swan. The latest person to plead guilty in the special counsel investigation. From that transcript and the Court Filings in his case which have been unsealed, weve now got confirmation that unlike mike flynn and unlike trump Foreign Policy adviser george papadopoulos, he did not sign a Cooperation Agreement with the prosecution. He did plead guilty but did not agree to cooperate with prosecutors. Why is that important . He is a dutch citizen, english lawyer, russian speaking. It has been of interest. This question of whether he might be cooperating in the Mueller Investigation, particularly because of the family that he just married into. His fatherinlaw, the father of his new wife, is a multibillionaire Russian Oligarch close to Vladimir Putin and is of the founders of alpha bank. Over the course of this scandal involving russian interference in our election and whether the Trump Campaign was involved in that interference, there have been intriguing questions raised. The way that putins russia works these days, there is a private sector component many times. There is evidence behind that hypothesis when they indicted those russians last friday. In the case of alpha bank, a private enterprise, there have been intriguing questions raised as to whether or not any part of alpha bank might have played some role in the russian interference in our election. There have been specific questions raised as to whether alpha bank might have been involved in surreptitious contacts between the Trump Campaign and russia while the attack was under way. You might remember that baffling reporting about unexplained communications during the election between computer servers in russia linked to alpha bank and a computer server in trump tower linked to the trump organization. Very interesting reporting. Ultimately, its openended. We dont have any idea what that server communication was about, but it raised questions. Alpha bank and its founders are also mentioned prominently in the Christopher Steele dossier which outlines allegations of a conspiracy to carry out this attack. Alpha bank is suing fusion gps and buzzfeed because they disagree with those allegations. But when alex van der swan was arrested and indicted, surprise, and that was unsealed yesterday. When he pled guilty in federal court yesterday, that did raise the prospect, oftentimes when people plead guilty, its because theyre cooperating, it raised the prospect that he might be an inside source, a very interesting inside source of information for muellers prosecutors about alpha bank. One of the three founders of alpha bank is his dad now, his fatherinlaw. So, interesting prospects raised yesterday by his guilty plea, given his family connections. Now with the release tonight of the transcript of his case we can see that whatever alex van der swan told prosecutors leading up to his Court Appearance yesterday, whatever he told muellers prosecutors about the Mueller Investigation of russia attacking our election, we now know for sure and on the record that there was no explicit, written, Cooperation Agreement between him and the prosecutors entered in Court Filings to go along with his guilty plea. Now, i raise that right now in part because theres been a lot of misreporting on that point since we first learned that van der swan was being indicted. A lot of people have said that he pled guilty and afrgreed to cooperate. It is now clear from muellers prosecutors in the transcript that there was no Cooperation Agreement, just a guilty plea. Were raising that as a point of order. People who have misreported, that should clear it up. And were going to have expert advice later on in the importance of that distinction. Also, there was a new sealed filing in the government case against Paul Manafort. The way this filing was made and what led up to this filing in manaforts case today makes it appear that these might be new charges against Paul Manafort, maybe even a whole new superseding indictment in the manafort case. Thats just a guess. As of now, its a sealed document, basically a mystery and a very intriguing one at that. Well have more on that tonight as well. So, watching all of those stories tonight, well have more on that over the course of this hour. But if you saw any news today, undoubtedly, what you saw was this. Miami herald reporting tonight, that this was the largest demonstration in tallahassee, the largest demonstration at the state capital in florida in 20 years. We knew there would be protests today at the state capital in tallahassee. We did not know it would be thousands of people, and mostly teenagers. This was described by a lot of reporters as a boisterous protest, a boisterous rally at the state capital. I dont know if boisterous is the right word. But it was big. It was loud, and it was emotional. Im not here for a fight. Im not here to argue with you. I just want to speak. I just want to see your face and know why. Have a heart, have a heart never again we lose confidence in our government, because we are told that nothing can be done, time and time again. And we are tired of hearing that. Because we know there can be change in this country. Never again should a tragedy of this caliber happen in this country, never again. And, as always, be positive, be passionate and be proud to be an eagle. The eagles, the mascot of the high school where the massacre happened last week in south florida. So, that was the teenagerled rally at the state capital today in tallahassee, but there were student walkouts and protests today all over the place. This was minneapolis, minnesota, look at this turnout. Students took their cues from the teenagers in florida. They converged on city hall. In the washington, d. C. , area, students came from all over. Look at this, Union Station in downtown d. C. If you have ever taken the train into d. C. , you know Union Station is walking distance from the white house and the capitol. So these kids all flooded into d. C. Today, including all of these kids streaming out of Union Station to go protest. For at least the second time in the past week, teenagers held these dramatic protests on the street right outside the white house, between the white house and lafayette park. Kids protested in gilbert, arizona, parker, colorado, pittsburgh, pennsylvania, and stafford township, new jersey, and bellingham, washington. They protested all over florida. Floridas a very, very big state, populationwise and geographically. And when the kids from parkland, florida, arrived in tallahassee today, they had had to travel seven hours across the state to get there, and they did. In florida, state politics are republicandominated now and progun republicandominated now. The state has been among the most extreme, even experimental policy environments for the nra. But these kids already have succeeded in getting floridas republican legislators to talk about something they otherwise wouldnt talk about. Rick scott says he will propose a package of reforms by friday. We dont know whats in the package of reforms, but its suspected that it might include some minor legal changes that would restrict long guns to the same as handguns, youd have to be 21 years old to buy a long gun. Right now, you have to be 21 to buy a handgun in florida. Theyre talking about subjecting rifles to the same waiting period that applies to handguns. That waiting period is a whopping three days in florida. So, when i say these are modest changes to state law that they are considering, im not even doing justice to the word modest there, but for florida republicans, for florida republicans, given what they have been doing in recent years, even these teeny, tiny, little changes might be considered radical reform. Veteran political reporter mark caputo says until last weeks shooting, any of these proposals from Republican Leadership would have been unthinkable in the florida legislature. He called florida a laboratory for the National Rifle association, saying for years, the nra has scored win after win in this gunshaped state. But these kids, the kids from the school that just got shot up, the proud eagles, and these kids from all over south florida and the rest of the state, they have flooded out of their schools. These kids who are better at arguing on this subject than most adults i have ever heard in my life, they seem to believe, they seem to be determined that they are going to turn this around. Theyre going to win something. It is heartbreaking to even think about betting against them given what they have been through, but well see. And the pressure is on in a big way. The clock is ticking, at least in florida, that promised package of reforms from the progun republican governor is supposedly going to come the day after tomorrow. So the proof will be in the pudding very quickly in florida. At the federal level for the country, as a longtime observer of these types of fights, i feel like for now it is hard to know what to believe what is really happening. Its hard to know what to believe, and i can tell you why in just a second, but i can also tell you that something very real and very emotional happened right in the middle of the white house today. And it was unavoidable. 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On this show, we sort of have a staff mantra about this, a silent movie. Thats the rule, treat them as a silent movie. Just watch what they do, not what they say. All good rules have their exceptions. But i think what were seeing right now in the wake of what happened in parkland, florida, is an example of why that rule has some weight. After the massacre in parkland, you may have seen that this is part of what the president said should be done in response. The president said online, we must now focus on strengthening background checks, background checks for people who want to buy guns. That is what he has said. The l. A. Times has done a good job of rounding up what the president has actually done on that subject since hes been in office. Again, saying versus doing. Since President Trump took office, his administration has moved aggressively on multiple fronts to weaken the background check system for guns. Narrowing the definitions means more people are eligible to buy guns. One way to be disqualified from buying a gun is if you are a fugitive from justice. That makes sense. If you are wanted by the law, you shouldnt be able to buy a gun under those circumstances. But the fbi used to consider people fugitives if they had a warrant for their arrest. Now, a fugitive from justice will only be disqualified from buying a gun if he or she has also fled across state lines to intentionally avoid prosecution. If you havent done that, they dont consider you a fugitive from justice anymore for the purposes of the background check. They have thrown out tens of thousands of records that used to be included. Certain forms and aspects of Mental Illness used to disqualify you. The Trump Administration has narrowed those definitions. And somewhat famously, in the first substantive standalone legislation passed by the new Republican Congress and signed by new President Trump, they overtly went out of their way in standalone legislation to change the law so people who have been adjudicated seriously mentally ill by the Social Security administration are no longer included in the background check system at all. They proposed slashing millions of dollars from the budget from the background check system. So thats what they are doing. Those are their actions, which is important to know, when you see that same president saying what he really wants to do is strengthen the background check system. Those actions by him and that narrative tell one story, the story of what hes doing while he wants to convince you otherwise. Now, the president also made headlines last night when he said he would ask the Justice Department to consider regulations regarding bump stocks, one of these aftermarket modifications you can strap onto your semiautomatic rifle to make it fire like a machine gun. The president s remarks on that subject made headlines. You should know that in terms of what he actually asked to happen, he requested the Justice Department to come up with regulations around these, the Justice Department has already considered regulating those kinds of devices. Dianne feinstein, the author of the clintonera Assault Rifle ban which was allowed to expire, she released this letter from five years ago. Reminding everyone that democrats have been asking for years for doj to stop these addons and accessories. The Justice Department is already on record explicitly saying that they are not allowed legally to promulgate those regulations. Congress has to do it. So, theres definitely a way to do it. Its clear. Almost assuredly, the only way to do it is to ask the congress, which is controlled by his party, to pass a law that would ban those things. But despite the headlines from last night, that the president has directed action against those accessories, theres no signs of any legislation request coming from the white house and no sign that the Republicanled Congress plans to do that. Its always a good rule, that at times like this, more than ever, watch what theyre doing, not what theyre saying. That said, maybe none of us really knows whats going to happen down the road here. Because maybe all these kids protesting after the parkland massacre are going to change everything. Look at all these kids. Look at the funerals of all these kids. Look at florida lawmakers visiting the school in parkland, florida, where this massacre happened. These florida kids bringing themselves to the Legislature Today where they were an unavoidable force, the miami herald calling it the biggest demonstration at the state capital in florida in decades. And also at the white house, yes, watch what they do and not what they say, but also look at what is being said to this president. There was this awkward photo today from the Associated Press showing the notes the president brought with him to talk to these kids and their families whose have been through massacres. Number five there is telling the president to say i hear you. But even with notes to help him to know what to say, even with the best of intentions and even with the softest heart, i think it is hard to predict what happens to people and how it changes people when they have to face this kind of grief in person. When youre in the presence of this human emotional power. I want to show you a little bit of tape. Youre going to see two different people talk to the president today. This isnt footage of the president talking. This is two people talking to him. First one is a young man