President Obama Talks About Gun Control Before Mass Shootings
TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. "The National Lead," we've heard President Obama talk about tougher restrictions on gun purchases. This time was different. Just hours before, another gunman went on another rampage, President Obama called the country's failure to pass stricter gun laws one of his biggest frustrations. In fact, over the years, we have seen the president go from avoiding any action on the issue to visibly crying and motivated to try to do something after the Sandy Hook shootings, to his current state which seems to be frustration expressed in an interview with BBC, which came coincidentally just minutes before the gunman stood up in that Lafayette theater last night and opened fire. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is travelling with President Obama today in Kenya. Jim, Congress does not agree with President Obama on this issue. Does he seem resigned to this being an area where he just won't get what he wants?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think that's the big question, Jake, whether or not this latest attack has changed his calculus on this issue. You're right, President Obama has landed on Nairobi, returning to his father's homeland in Kenya for a trip that was supposed to be a chance to get back in touch with his roots. Unfortunately for the president, he will undoubtedly be faced with questions once again about gun violence in the U.S. as that movie theater mass shooting in Louisiana has forced the issue back into the spotlight. Even before he touched down in Kenya, the president was briefed on the situation in Louisiana by his homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco. The president as you said, Jake, had given up on gun control after efforts for new restrictions on firearms failed in Congress. But as you said, right before this latest rampaged happened, the third mass shooting in less than two months, the president talked about his frustrations, called it his greatest frustration since being president in this interview with the BBC. Here's what he had to say.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you ask me where has been the one area where I feel that I've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient commonsense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings. For us not to be able to resolve that issue has been something that is distressing but it is not something that I intend to stop working on in the remaining 18 months.</s>ACOSTA: Although the White House is all but determine that new gun control measures will not happen during President Obama's remaining time in office, as one official recently told me, they understand the political realities up on Capitol Hill and the votes simply are not there. We should point out, Jake, we are here in Nairobi. And just to paint the picture of the scene here, scores of Kenyans were on the streets earlier this evening to welcome the president back to Kenya. His half-sister was among those greeting him at the airport and later on the evening he had dinner with relatives here in Nairobi as he is getting back in touch with his roots. He'll give a major address to the African people on Sunday, where he's expected to talk about that very unique African heritage. Jake?</s>TAPPER: All right. Jim Acosta, thank you so much. In our "Politics Lead," the case of the Clinton e-mails takes quite a turn. Intelligence investigators say the former secretary of state sent classified information in e-mails over her private server. The big question, did she know that the information she was sending was classified?