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WASHINGTON Senate security officials have taken new steps to protect the secrecy of senators weekly closed-door lunches in the U.S. Capitol after a contract employee was arrested and accused of recording audio of a Republican lunch meeting in early March, four sources said.

Its really concerning, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said of the incident, which has not previously been made public. Those conversations are an opportunity for senators to talk candidly about issues. So to have people on record and easily identifiable by their voices is problematic.

Capitol Police arrested and charged a 25-year-old Maryland man with a misdemeanor, interception/use of wire tap, which was later dismissed, according to court documents. The employee told police he set his phone to record for multiple hours during the Senate Republican lunch on March 7 and left it behind, court documents say. When the employee went back with a police escort to retrieve the phone, he was told it was not there. A senator had spotted the phone and handed it over to police, two sources said.

NBC News originally withheld the identity of the employee because charges had been dropped. But in an interview after this article was first published, the man, Patrick Gartor, said he regrets recording the meeting.

I just wanted to learn from them," he told NBC News.

Gartor, who said he started working as a server on Capitol Hill three weeks before the incident, described himself as a Trump person," adding, I love Republicans.

I was eager to learn, I see these people on TV, Gartor said.

Gartors attorney, Matthew Rist, told NBC News that his clients case was dismissed on Wednesday without explanation.

I personally think that Mr. Gartor is harmless, Rist said in an interview. And with no prior criminal record, they dismissed the case because hes not connected to anyone else and hes not a threat to anyone. And I think that the government saw that and thats why they dismissed the case.

The incident, however, prompted security officials to institute new protocols for contractors and service staff members, including a requirement for workers to leave cellphones in cabinets outside the party meeting rooms before they enter Senate lunches.

Capitol police are also now required to wand workers with a metal detector before allowing them to enter.

According to court documents, Gartor told police before he was arrested that he had been recording the meeting for multiple hours. He also claimed that he was married to the vice president of Liberia and wanted to provide his wife the Vice President of Liberia with American political information.

There is no record that Gartor is married to the vice president of Liberia. The Liberian Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Gartor, who said he came to the United States from Liberia in 2015, said in the interview with NBC News that he had never met her, but admitted to having "an infatuation" with her.)

According to the document, Gartor also possessed gathered trash from the Senate Republican lunch meeting, including a slideshow of information that was talked about in the event.

It was a temporary person hired on by the food service people. The phone was left in the record mode found in the food line, said Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso, R-Wyo. Its very concerning.

Gartor was an employee of At Your Service, a food service and bartender provider with locations along the East Coast. The company provides staffing for Senate lunches and other functions as a subcontractor for Restaurant Associates, the company that handles food services on the Senate side of the Capitol, the court records say.

This activity is in direct violation of our policies, let alone the appropriate decorum and respect we expect of anyone serving the Senate community, Sam Souccar, the senior vice president of Creative Services for Restaurant Associates, told NBC News in a statement. We can confirm the issue has been addressed and appropriately handled.

Asked for information about the incident, a U.S. Capitol Police spokesman said, We cannot publicly discuss any potential ongoing investigations at this time.

The Senate sergeant at arms did not respond to repeated requests for information about the incident or any subsequent security posture.

The Senates weekly party luncheons, held almost every Tuesday in the Capitol, provide senators with the opportunity to discuss the agenda for the week, as well as strategize over coming legislation and nominations. The meetings are attended by senators and very few staff members; conversations are considered private but are often leaked to reporters.

I think it was kind of a one-off thing, said Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D. The question I had was did anyone put him up to it? And to my knowledge, the answer is no.

The incident has Republican senators buzzing about what the employee was doing and why he was able to get into the lunch.

I am very concerned that its someone in close proximity of the building and the members, some of whom have personal security assigned to them, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said. I think that was worrisome when I heard it.

Frank Thorp V is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.

Garrett Haake is an NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent.

JulieTsirkin is acorrespondent covering Capitol Hill.

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Man arrested over secretly recording Republicans prompts Senate to change security policies - NBC News

Republican officials almost unanimously rallied around Donald J. Trump after his indictment, but the actual G.O.P. voters who will render a verdict on his political future next year werent nearly as solidly behind him.

Some previous Trump voterssaid the indictment, the first ever of a former president, was the latest shattering of norms in a ledger already stuffed with chaos from the Trump years, and it was time for their party to move on in seeking a 2024 nominee.

In Hawthorne, N.Y., Scott Gray, a land surveyor who voted for Mr. Trump in two elections, said he had wearied of him.

I think he did a lot of things right, Mr. Gray said, then immediately darted in the other direction: I think hes completely unpresidential. I cant believe hes still running for office.

As an alternative, Mr. Gray said he was interested in that guy down in Florida whos governor DeSantis. (Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run but has not yet announced a campaign, is Mr. Trumps closest rival for the G.O.P. nomination in recent polling of primary voters.)

In conversations with Republican-leaning voters around the country, Mr. Trumps indictment brought out much anger, occasional embarrassment and a swirl of contradictory reactions, not unlike every other twist in the yearslong high drama of Donald Trump.

As expected, many rallied around the former president, calling the indictment by a Democratic prosecutor in New York a sham a provocation they said would only cement their allegiance to Mr. Trump, who for years has encouraged supporters to see attacks on him as also attacks on them.

But for some the rush to defend was weighed down by scandal fatigueand a sense that Mr. Trumps time has passed.

Outside Wild Cherry Nail and Hair Studio in Port Richey, Fla., on Friday, Ilyse Internicola and Meghan Seltman, both Trump supporters, discussed the indictment during a smoke break.

The race begins. Four years after a historically large number of candidates ran for president, the field for the 2024 campaignis starting out small and is likely to be headlined by the same two men who ran last time: President Biden and Donald Trump. Heres who has entered the race so far, and who else might run:

Donald Trump. The former president is running to retake the office he lost in 2020. Though somewhat diminished in influencewithin the Republican Party and facing several legal investigations he retains a large and committed base of supporters, and he could be aided in the primary by multiple challengers splitting a limited anti-Trump vote.

President Biden. While Biden has not formally declared his candidacy for a second term, and there has been much hand-wringing among Democratsover whether he should seek re-election givenhis age, he is widely expected to run. If he does, Bidens strategyis to frame the race as a contest between a seasoned leader and a conspiracy-minded opposition.

Marianne Williamson. The self-help author and former spiritual adviser to Oprah Winfrey is the first Democrat to formally enter the race. Kicking off her second presidential campaign, Williamson called Biden a weak choice and said the party shouldnt fear a primary. Few in Democratic politics are taking her entry into the race seriously.

How far are they going to go? Ms. Internicola, a hair stylist in the salon, demanded.

Ms. Seltman, a manicurist, said she would always stay loyal to Mr. Trump. But for the presidency, Id like to see DeSantis have his chance, she said. Hes done well with Florida, and Id like to see what he does with the nation. Get it back to how it used to be.

Mr. Trump was charged by a grand jury on Thursday with more than two dozen counts, with an arraignment expected on Tuesday, when specific charges will be unsealed.

Polling has shown a marked shift toward Mr. Trump among Republicans in recent months, primarily at Mr. DeSantiss expense, which may partly reflect the highly anticipated indictment, on charges stemming from a $130,000 payment to a porn star on the eve of the 2016 election. Nearly two weeks ago, Mr. Trump incorrectly predicted the day of his arrest and called for protests, seeking to energize supporters. His provocations have included posting a picture of himself wielding a baseball bat beside a picture of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg.

How Times reporters cover politics.We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause.

William Stelling, a real estate agent in Jacksonville, Fla., once kept his options open about the 2024 Republican primary. But the indictment goaded him to stand up for the former president.

I am dusting off my Trump flags and hanging them proudly, Mr. Stelling said. This proves to me that hes the right candidate. Because theyre throwing the kitchen sink at him on a trumped-up charge that we all know is basically a misdemeanor at best.

Debbie Dooley, a staunch Trump loyalist who helped found the Atlanta Tea Party, went so far as to organize a demonstration for Mr. Trump during a DeSantis visit to suburban Atlanta on Thursday. She said the indictment bolstered her faith that he would win the presidency in his third campaign.

Im going to go ahead and make reservations for a hotel in D.C. for the inauguration because Trump is going to be the next president of the United States, she said. The prosecutors not doing anything but helping him.

And Allan Terry, a Trump supporter in Charleston, S.C., who has Trump flags flying in his front and back yard, plans to add a new one to his truck, he said.

If he messed around, so what? Mr. Terry said of the payment to the former porn star, Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors say underlies violations of campaign finance and business records laws. Its immoral. Its wrong. He shouldnt have done it. If he did, so what does that have to do with his presidency?

But not all previous Trump backers share such loyalty. In a Quinnipiac University poll released this week before the indictment, one in four Republicans and one in three independents said criminal charges should disqualify Mr. Trump as a presidential candidate.

A Fox News poll of the potential Republican field this week showed Mr. Trump with 54 percent of support from primary voters, followed by Mr. DeSantis at 24 percent and others, including former Vice President Mike Pence and Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador and South Carolina governor, in single digits.

In Iowa, which will hold the first Republican nominating contest early next year, Gypsy Russ, who lives in Iowa City, said she once supported Mr. Trump but doubted he could win the partys embrace yet again.

Theres not enough Republicans supporting him, she said.

Ms. Russ said Mr. Trump had shown over and over that he is not presidential. Hes just very rude, she said. And he doesnt talk like a president is supposed to. Although he has many fans, including her parents, she added, He didnt gain any more followers because of the way he carries himself.

Jim Alden, a Republican businessman from Franconia, N.H., who is no particular fan of Mr. Trumps, nonetheless predicted that the indictment would strengthen his support because Republicans find the behavior underlying the charges to be inconsequential, and they believe politics were driving Mr. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, in his inquiry.

Unfortunately, it will embolden Trumps core supporters because he has cultivated this persecution complex, and being indicted on what may be a questionably strong case is only going to strengthen the persecution complex, said Mr. Alden.

One of those core supporters was Keith Marcus, who owns a wholesale beauty supply business in New York City.

Im shocked and Im upset, he said. The indictment is setting a really bad precedent for the future, he added. Its just a witch hunt. The D.A. is a joke a total joke.

But the indictment also seemed to have shaken at least some Trump voters willingness to back him in a bid for another four years in the White House.

In Hawthorne, N.Y., a red island of Republican voters in the otherwise liberal northern suburbs of New York, Palmy Vocaturo said he twice voted for Mr. Trump, but his confidence in him has eroded in light of the criminal investigations, not just in Manhattan but in cases pursued by a Georgia prosecutor and a special counsel for the Justice Department.

Im getting mixed feelings, said Mr. Vocaturo, a retired construction worker. If he is as bad as I think he is, go ahead and do something, he said of the indictment.

Jon Hurdle, Elisabeth Parker and Haley Johnson contributed reporting.

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For Some G.O.P. Voters, Fatigue Slows the Rush to Defend Trump - The New York Times

In bizarre scenes in a US House hearing, the far-right Republican Lauren Boebert asked if a revised Washington DC criminal code was now law only to be reminded that Congress overturned it earlier this month then fixated on whether that code would have decriminalised public urination.

The revision was meant to give the District of Columbia a first code update in 120 years, but it became subject to fierce debate over crime as a political issue. Republicans said the code was soft on violent offenses. Angering progressives, Joe Biden said he would not veto a Republican measure to overturn the code.

Charles Allen, a city councilman, chaired the DC judiciary committee which considered the revisions.

On Wednesday, Allen was one of four witnesses at the mercy of House Republicans in a hearing entitled Overdue Oversight of the Capital City.

Allen, DC council chair Phil Mendelson, chief financial officer Glen Lee and Greggory Pemberton of the DC Police Union faced aggressive Republican questioning, mostly regarding policing and crime, including the stabbing last weekend of a staffer to the Republican senator Rand Paul.

But Boeberts fixation on public urination made the biggest splash.

The pro-Trump Coloradan, who has a history of inflammatory behavior, asked: You led the charge to reform DCs crime laws. Is that correct?

Allen said: I chaired the committee that proposal came from, yes.

Boebert said: You led the charge, yes sir. And these changes are now law here in DC. Correct?

Allen said: You mean the revised criminal code? No, those are not the law.

Boebert appeared confused. Mendelson said: The revised code was rejected by

Cutting Mendelson off, Boebert pressed Allen.

Did you or did you not decriminalise public urination in Washington DC? Did you lead the charge to do so?

Allen said: No. The revised criminal code left that as a criminal.

Boebert repeated: Did you lead the charge to decriminalise public urination in Washington DC?

Allen said: No, maam.

Boebert said: Did you ever vote in favor of decriminalising public urination in Washington DC?

Allen said: The revised criminal code that was passed by the council kept it as a criminal offense.

Boebert said: Did you ever support this criminal offense status?

Allen said: I voted for it, yes.

Boebert said: You voted to keep it as a criminal offense?

Allen said: Thats correct. The full council did.

Boebert claimed to have records showing Allen favored allowing public urination.

Allen said: No. The

Boebert asked: Is that something you intend to pursue in the future?

Allen said: No. The legislation youre referring to came from the criminal code reform commission that changed public urination from a criminal to a civil offense. The council then changed that, to maintain it as a criminal offense at the request of the mayor.

Boebert yielded her time.

Addressing the witnesses, Becca Balint, a Democrat from Vermont, lamented: Rather than addressing a number of serious concerns our constituents have, [Republicans] are choosing to waste our time talking about public urination. Do you have anything additional you want to say about public urination?

Boebert said: I do.

Balint said: No, not you. Its not your time. Its a question to these people.

In conclusion, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the panel, said: This has been a degraded, tawdry discourse today, with obsessive questioning about public urination.

I hope the public doesnt see this hearing and regard all of it as an episode of public urination in which the people of Washington are the ones getting rained on.

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Wee the people: Republican Boebert presses DC witness on public ... - The Guardian US

House Republicans are pressing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for answers after the agency funded research experiments they say could result in a "supercharged" monkeypox virus.

In a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and two subcommittee chairmen are demanding that the agency turn over documents and information regarding a government-funded experiment that reportedly involves swapping monkepox genes with a deadlier version of the virus. The lawmakers want to know whether this project was approved by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) review board tasked with oversight of research involving enhanced pathogens that could potentially cause a pandemic.

This letter is a follow-up to an October 31, 2022, letter to which Republicans say the NIH never responded. GOP lawmakers accused NIH of "stonewalling" in a press release.

"Based on the available information, it appears the project is reasonably anticipated to yield a lab-generated monkeypox virus that is 1,000 times more lethal in mice than the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans and that transmits as efficiently as the monkeypox virus currently circulating in humans. The risk-benefit ratio indicates potentially serious risks without clear civilian practical applications," the Republicans wrote.

FORMER CDC DIRECTOR SLAMS GAIN-OF-FUNCTION RESEARCH: PROBABLY CAUSED THE GREATEST PANDEMIC IN HISTORY

This image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility (IRF) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. (NIAID via AP, File)

"Accordingly, this experiment would seem to involve risks reasonably anticipated to create, transfer, or use [potential pandemic pathogens] resulting from the enhancement of a pathogens transmissibility or virulence in humans. Thus, under the circumstances, we are interested in learning whether this experiment was reviewed under the HHS P3CO framework used to review research proposals posing significant biosafety or biosecurity risks."

The project leader is Dr. Bernard Moss, a veteran poxvirus researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. An article in Science magazine described his efforts to learn the differences between two variants of monkeypox virus: clade 2, the West African variant that caused a global outbreak last year, and clade 1, which is believed to be deadlier and has caused outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo for decades.

Moss' research involves swapping the genes of the two variants, one at a time, to discover whether a specific gene in the clade 1 virus makes it deadlier. The Republicans want to know whether these lab experiments could artificially enhance the clade 2 variant.

AFRICA'S CDC HOPES MPOX VACCINES WILL ARRIVE IN ANOTHER TWO WEEKS, AFTER MONTHS OF SEEKING DOSES

This 1997 image provided by the CDC during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, depicts the dorsal surfaces of the hands of a monkeypox case patient, who was displaying the appearance of the characteristic rash during its recuperative stage. (CDC via AP, File)

Such research, known as "gain-of-function," is highly controversial, because it involves extracting viruses from animals to artificially engineer in a laboratory to make them more transmissible and deadly to humans. Proponents say these experiments can help scientists understand the nature of viruses and develop new treatments and vaccines. Skeptics warn that gain-of-function experiments are one lab accident away from causing another global pandemic.

Moss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY SAYS BIDEN TRYING TO COVER UP ORIGINS OF COVID-19

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led a letter to acting NIH Director Lawrence Tabak demanding answers on a government-funded project involving a manipulated monkeypox virus. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

"Human disease associated with clade 2 or West African monkeypox virus infection is less severe and is associated with less than one percent mortality, whereas clade 1 or Congo Basin monkeypox infection has a 10 percent case fatality rate in unvaccinated persons," the Republicans wrote. "Because of its significantly greater lethality, clade 1 or Congo Basin clade monkeypox viruses are regulated as select agents by the Federal Select Agents Program. Entities that possess, use, or transfer this agent must comply with the HHS Select Agent and Toxin Regulations unless there is an applicable exemption or exclusion.

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"Thus," the letter continues, "under these regulations, it would appear the clade 1 monkeypox virus experiment is a restricted experiment that must be reviewed by the Federal Select Agent Program, and may be further reviewed by the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDCs) Intragovernmental Select Agents and Toxins Technical Advisory Committee (ISATTAC)."

The Republicans want NIH officials and employees to testify about Moss' project and other related matters. They gave NIH an April 13, 2023, deadline to respond to their inquiry.

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House Republicans accuse NIH of 'stonewalling' on 'supercharged monkeypox experiment' - Fox News

Lisa Desjardins: I want to tell our viewers, too, Trump's indictment is not the only heated topic, as we well know Washington. Debate over the role of guns in America is again rising after another deadly elementary school shooting, this time in Nashville, where a 28-year-old former student armed with an AR-15 military style rifle killed six people, three of them nine-year-old children.

Republicans in Washington responded to the tragedy by saying it is too soon to judge. President Biden admitted he believes he has exhausted all of his executive authority to act on gun violence.

But Wednesday evening, in a remarkable moment, the growing tension between the two parties boiled over into the hallways of Congress.

Jamaal Bowman: The solution is not arming teachers.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY): We have got guns here to protect us and he does not believe the kids should have somebody to protect them.

Lisa Desjardins: Ashley, I want to talk to you about this first. You had an extraordinary work of journalism that you're part of this week in The Washington Post about the AR-15, the gun that divides us. I want to ask you, why is that gun so politically powerful?

Ashley Parker: Because at this point, as we sort of say, it was a huge -- I should say, it was a huge series of multiple stories across all desks in the newsroom. But it has really become an American icon, which you saw from that video you just played. Everyone has a strong opinion about it. It is incredibly polarizing. Those opinions are incredibly different depending on where you live, what your beliefs system is, whether or not you own one of these weapons.

But it was also -- I mean, it started with a very deliberate marketing campaign by the gun manufacturers. You have to go back to the AR-15 was originally invented as a weapon of war to help our troops in Vietnam. It was not very popular at gun shows. It was sort of -- would be in the back. True gun enthusiasts didn't love it. They thought it was cheap for hunting, not really a sportsman's gun.

And then it has been described as sort of Barbie dolls for men, although men are not the only ones, of course, who have this weapon, but there is tremendous revenue to make in the AR. Because if you buy a handgun, that is kind of the end of it. But you can buy an AR and then you can go back and you can customize it and you trick it out. And so it's sort of like you get the Barbie but then you can get the dream house and then you can get the outfit. So, this is a very deliberate effort that has now become sort of just embedded in the fabric of our nation in how people define who they are and who they aren't.

Lisa Desjardins: Domenico, what's the polling on guns? We had a decade where there was an assault weapon ban in this country. And at that point, that idea was relatively popular. Now, the country is split. Who moved in that? Obviously, people moved more toward gun rights, I suppose. What happened?

Luke Broadwater: Well, we are seeing a couple things happen here when it comes to guns, which is really interesting. I mean, you are seeing more people than ever before be supportive of gun restrictions than we have seen in the past. At the same time, Republicans are headed in the other direction.

So, when you look at -- for example, we did a big poll last year. We talked to gun owners, we talked people writ large on this, and 60-plus percent of people were in favor of an AR-15 ban. The difference was only 40-something percent of independents and 25 percent of Republicans were in favor of that ban. It was really kind of skewed by just how many Democrats were so in favor of an AR-15 ban.

And when you have that kind of split and when you have these districts in the country that are, I would say, maybe three dozen now that are truly competitive districts, when you have that be the case, I mean, when I was covering politics starting out in 2006, I had 129 competitive districts or potentially competitive districts on my list. Now, it is only in the 30s. When you have that, you have way more orthodoxy. And for Republicans, that really means guns as one of the principal issues that they stand from on.

Lisa Desjardins: Mario, what about Democrats? We know that the Democratic base wants more gun legislation, they want more action from President Biden. But he said he has run out of things he can do. But I also don't hear him stumping on this. Is there a reason that we don't hear more from the president on this?

Mario Parker: No. I mean, he has -- we saw him in Monterey Park, California, two weeks, right, two weeks before this latest incident. He has said that he has issued a steady flow of executive orders. And earlier this week, he said, you know what, there is nothing else he can do beyond the executive order. He has to figure out a way to get something done in Congress. And as we just outlined, it is a fraught situation. He pointed to the big money that is involved there, right?

And so we ran some numbers that show that the NRA, for example, spent $16 million in last year's midterms, donated to 257 GOP candidates alone. That's quite a big number, and then spent another $8 million on lobbying as well. So, that is the big money that Democrats and Biden administration are up against.

Lisa Desjardins: Inevitably, this brings us back to our home turf, Congress, Luke. I think a lot of Americans just don't understand why Congress is sort of shouting in the hallways but not actually having real conversation here about it. What is your understanding?

Luke Broadwater: I mean, the parties are so divided on this issue. Even if you could get some kind of consensus around some very minor changes, it is really hard to get the votes to do that with the House now in the hands of Republicans. And you would still need nine Republicans in the Senate to join whatever proposal.

And the party has just embraced the AR-15. I don't know any other way to say it. I mean, it is very common for Republicans to pose for Christmas pictures with their families holding AR-15s. It's like every time there is talk of a ban, sales of the AR-15s go through the roof. I think it's more than one in ten Republicans owns an AR-15. So, we are literally talking about taking the guns from their houses when you start talking about an assault weapons ban.

Lisa Desjardins: Although a ban usually is moving forward. I don't think there's any proposals for -- yes.

Luke Broadwater: Correct. But that is the way they view it, and it activates them.

And so, yes, the parties are so divided. And they did pass some legislation last Congress and almost all the Republican senators who I talked to about in the halls say, we want to see that implemented first before we try to pass anything else.

Lisa Desjardins: Ashley, the NRA has come up here. Mario brought it up. It's not just the NRA anymore, is it, or is it that is motivating this?

Ashley Parker: No, it is not at all. Mario is right about all of those figures, but the NRA, in general, is far weakened, far less of a player than it was a decade ago. But as Domenico was saying, what it really comes down to is this is key orthodoxy in the Republican base. And so it doesn't matter that something might be popular across the nation. These Republicans just feel that they cannot take -- forget about a tough vote, they can barely take any vote for what a lot of people would term common sense gun restrictions and win their party's primary. It comes down to fear from the base and it's also become a political symbol, right?

I mean, Luke was describing the pictures we see of the children with ARs on Christmas cards, but it is also that symbol. Members of Congress are wearing that as lapel pins. They used all where flags. Now, they've added ARs. It is a way to own the libs. It is the closest way to sort of instantly show your political identity.

Domenico Montanaro: I'll say this, though. Politics can be like an aircraft carrier. And sometimes you don't even notice you're on the aircraft carrier, you don't even notice it's turning around when you are on the aircraft carrier because it moves so slowly.

And what we have seen with the NRA, but with the decline of the NRA as well, there have been pro-gun restriction groups that have stepped in like every town, the Giffords Group, and Mike Bloomberg, who is a billionaire New Yorker who ran for president but also has a lot of money to donate to a group like every town, which he has funded.

They have made real differences at the statewide level because when you have politics at the federal level being as split as it is, a lot of these fights of going to the states, and a lot of Democratic groups have kind of gotten hip to some of these strategies that Republican groups have used over the years. And you are starting to see the tide turn somewhat. I'll be really interested in the next 15 and 20 years where we are at then.

Lisa Desjardins: We have just a couple of minutes left, but one last question on gun issue. I wonder is this an issue of, anyone who might know something about this, Republicans just are less familiar with people being harmed by guns and maybe Democrats are less familiar with people who own guns? I mean, is that -- because it seems like people who say, if you know someone who was killed by an AR-15, that is an issue. You don't -- I don't know. Just a theory, everyone is not --

Ashley Parker: Guns at this point have touched every single slice of life, right? Parents, they have been in schools, they have been in churches, they have been in predominately black supermarkets, they have been country music concerts in Las Vegas. It is hard to say that someone cannot imagine a situation they are in where one of these weapons might show up.

Lisa Desjardins: All right. We have just about a minute left. Now, here is a question I am excited to ask to see. We talk about this historic time. Mario and I both agree this is a time we're lucky to be reporters. I want to ask each of you quickly, what adjectives would you choose to describe this time right now?

Domenico Montanaro: Scary, crazy, exciting.

Mario Parker: Extraordinary, exhilarating, critical.

Lisa Desjardins: Nice. Luke? I'll put you on the spot.

Luke Broadwater: I don't know, divisive and fraught.

Ashley Parker: I don't know if deja vu is even an adjective, and I recognize that this is unprecedented, but it all, just having covered Trump since 2015, feels so familiar, every single bit of it.

Lisa Desjardins: I would say, incredible, important, exhausting.

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Gun debate erupts in halls of Congress between Democratic and ... - PBS