Donald Trump Calls Florida Shooter 'Mentally Disturbed,' Says Nothing About Gun Control

Another day that feels like a lifetime!

Here’s all the shit we couldn’t cover today:

• Donald Trump said today that Wednesday’s school shooting was the result of a “mentally disturbed” student. He promised to “tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” while making schools safe. “Answer hate with love,” Trump said. “Answer cruelty with kindness.” Since the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, Trump has reiterated his position that mental health is the cause of mass shootings, rather than easy access to AR-15s, the semiautomatic weapon used in at least five mass shootings. [Washington Post]
• Florida Senator Marco Rubio said today that gun control is not a solution to prevent more mass shootings. “I’m trying to be clear and honest here, someone who has decided to commit this crime, they will find a way to get the gun to do it,” Rubio said on the Senate floor, less than 24 hours after 17 teenagers were murdered in a Broward County school. Though Rubio has been wildly inconsistent on policies ranging from immigration to tax reform, he has been consistent in his support for the gun lobby. Two of America’s deadliest shootings, Pulse nightclub and yesterday’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, took place in Florida. [CBS News]
• Did you know that it’s easier to buy an AR-15 in Florida than it is to buy a handgun? [New York Times]
• The bipartisan immigration proposal died in the Senate today. The proposal would have preserved DACA while providing $25 billion in funding for more border security. Though Donald Trump had threatened to veto the bill, some Senators hoped that the bipartisan approach would find broader support in the Senate, even as both Democrats and Republicans disagreed with portions of the bill. [Politico]
• A loophole in Environmental Protection Agency regulations allows one company to build trucks that do not comply with federal emissions rules. EPA Director Scott Pruitt, as well as a conservative Tennessee congresswoman, have “facilitated” the “survival” of the loophole. [New York Times]
• Steve Bannon was interviewed by Robert Mueller over the course of last week. They spent roughly 20 hours together. [NBC News]
• Donald Trump’s inaugural committee paid $26 million to an event planning company connected to a Melania Trump advisor for… planning?? The advisor, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, took home $1.26 million of that amount. [Talking Points Memo]

Here are some tweets the President was allowed to publish: