abc's mary bruce tonight asking, are these broken promises already? >> reporter: tonight, president trump appears to be bowing to the demands of the nra. just two days after scolding lawmakers for being afraid of them. >> some of you people are petrified of the nra. you can't be petrified. >> reporter: but late last night, top nra officials came to the white house. the president tweeting, good, great meeting in the oval office the nra agrees. their top lobbyist tweeting potus & vpotus support the second amendment, support strong due process, and don't want gun control. the about-face is what democrats had feared, and predicted. >> do you think so the president's calls for broader reforms are going to stick? >> it's up to the president. >> is the president going to actually put action behind it? >> reporter: trump told democrats like chris murphy that he supported their call for universal background checks. >> we can't get it done. nothing else like that, where it works, people want it, and we can't do it. >> you have a different president now. you wen

"nightline" welcomes abc's senior congressional correspondent mary bruce. >> reporter: judy canali still gets emotional thinking about the time a friend made her realize now is her time to run for congress. >> i thought i'm going to go for it. i'm going to go for it. and here i am. sorry about this. >> no, it's okay. >> reporter: she's part of the pink wave rolling through the heart of texas. we came here ahead of tomorrow's primary. >> that's a nice welcome, good texas welcome. >> reporter: to meet these three women, first-time congressional candidates from both parties. they join roughly 50 other women facing off on the ballot tuesday. the kickoff of the 2018 mid-terms. coast to coast more than 400 women are running for congress. that's double the number that ran in 2016. with president trump's approval rating hovering around 40%, texas is a key test for the democrats. one of the critical issues driving these women, immigration. if the president is able to build that big beautiful wall that he wants, well, it would be felt here in this district unlike anywhere else because just in this

>> mary bruce for us at the white house tonight. mary, thank you. >>> next, to the russia investigation, and the former trump aide what made headlines, saying he wouldn't talk to special counsel robert mueller's team. now, he's emerging from six hour s of testimony before a washington grand jury. what sam nunberg is revealing tonight about that courtroom encounter. here's abc's tara palmeri with that interview. >> reporter: former trump campaign adviser, sam nunberg, tonight, under the glaring spotlight of the russia investigation. testifying for six hours in front of the grand jury. >> i'm going to be the first one in history to flat-out say i'm not going. >> reporter: this, after making headlines with a media meltdown. on monday, he said on countless cable shows that he would refuse to testify. some questioning his state of mind. >> talking to you, i have smelled alcohol on your breath. >> well, i have not had a drink. >> reporter: nunberg eventually testified, right after he sat down with us. do you think it's a witch hunt? >> no

mary bruce, thank you. >>> next to the mounting tensions between russia and the u.s. tonight, the kremlin announcing the test launch of a new intercontinental ballistic missile called by critics, satan 2. are they risk a new arms race? martha raddatz joins us now from washington. and martha, that new missile test comes as two planes are standing by ready to take off with expelled diplomats back to moscow. >> reporter: that's right, tom. those two russian government planes landed at the airport. a u-haul being unloaded next to it waiting for those 60 diplomats to get on board and get out of the country. all in response to the nerve agent attack on the former russian spy and his daughter in britain, and in moscow, retaliati retaliation. it is 60 americans being sent home. this as russia released video of the test launch of a powerful new generation of nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles, but abc news has confirmed that president trump warned vladimir putin earlier this month in a phone call, if you want to have an arms race, we can do that, but i'll win. nothing

abc's mary bruce, tracking your money tonight. >> reporter: it's the department that's supposed to look out for the poorest americans, but tonight, the housing agency is under fire for its own alleged lavish spending. >> there's a lot more money in the private sector than there is in the government. does it mean that the government isn't still going to be a major player, but we just want to make sure we get bang for the taxpayers' dollar. >> reporter: a spokesman says housing secretary ben carson didn't ask for his staff to spend more than $31,000 on opulent dining furniture for his office. well above the $5,000 limit. tonight, that order, canceled. carson is one of six trump administration officials under scrutiny for allegedly wasting your taxpayer money, funding trips, first class tickets, even a $30,000 secure phone booth for an office. just weeks ago, a scathing report found veterans affairs secretary david shulkin misled ethics officials and cost taxpayers $122,000 on a european tour. in july, shulkin and his wife traveled to copenhagen and london. 3 1/2 days were spent in officia

abc's mary bruce at the white house tonight. >> reporter: with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek, president trump today bid farewell to the aide who has been with him the longest. hope hicks. part of a revolving door of high profile white house departures. a starkly different send off from just 24 hours ago. v.a. secretary david shulkin kicked out of the cabinet with a tweet. >> we've made a lot of progress with the veterans, but i want to get them choice. and they didn't give us choice. i made some changes, because i wasn't happy with the speed with which our veterans were taken care of. i wasn't happy with it. >> reporter: but tonight, shulkin isn't going quietly. writing in an op-ed, "the environment in washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespe disrespectful." adding this parting shot, "it should not be this hard to serve your country." shulkin says he was pushed out by forces in the department that want to privatize the v.a. heed a been on thin ice for weeks, accused of wasting taxpayer money on a $122,000 work trip to europe, where he and his wife spent several days sightseeing

our senior congressional correspondent mary bruce travelled to southwest texas. to meet three of the women challenging the incumbent. >> reporter: in the land of longhorns, cowboy hats and seemingly endless pasture a women's movement is on the rise. judy kanalis is running for congress in texas. >> vote judy. >> reporter: across the country women running in record numbers. more than 400 congressional candidates. that's double the number in 2016. >> i cannot believe our country went into this direction. so we've got to do something better. >> reporter: she could be the first latina to ever represent texas in washington. she tells us the president's words about mexican americans and immigrants are too painful to ignore. >> how dare he talk about my heritage and my community in that way. >> reporter: she recalls the moment a friend helped her realize it's her time. >> they said to me you said you always wanted to run. i said i did. i thought this is it. i thought i think this is it. i'm going to go for it. i'm going to go for it. here i am. sorry about this. >> it's

mary bruce, abc news, capitol hill. >> hmm. >> $31,500 for dining room furniture. >> wait, can i read a quote from american home furnishing alliance? this is a trade group that makes the furniture. consumers might be outraged by the concept of spending $31,500 but this furniture will last 50 plus years of daily rugged use. >> daily rugged use. >> because i eat like this and i like to cut my food really hard, so i need really good furniture. >> rugged use of dining. what are they doing there? okay. >> eating steak. >> all right. we'll have to brain storm on that one. but when we come back we have a look at the wealthiest artists in hip-hop. see who topped and who dropped. >> the skinny's next. >> the skinny's next. next. p artist. ant to find a used car without getting ripped off. you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax. now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used trucks with one owner. pretty cool. [laughs] ah... ahem... show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports at the a

mary bruce is back with that answer this morning. good morning again, mary. >> good morning, again. those passionate pleas that we heard from across the country and around the world, young activists and survivors sending a clear message to lawmakers demanding gun control. now, of course, what comes next is up to congress. republican leaders have little appetite to act on this issue. it's unlikely we will see them take up sweeping new gun legislation. republicans like florida senator marco rubio note that despite these demonstrations many americans don't support gun restrictions. but these protesters are playing the long game, looking ahead, determined to make gun control a central issue in the upcoming mid-term elections. they're registering people to vote. again and again, we heard them warning lawmakers, watch out, the voters are coming. >> time will tell. when it's time to vote, we'll see how well it goes. >> we'll see come november. >> thank you so much, mary. >>> we switch gears, robin, you got this. >> something a little bit different here, michael, concerning science. i want

first, let's go to abc news mary bruce at the white house. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, george. we saw the president there bid a very fond farewell to hope hicks but a different send-off for v.a. secretary david shulkin, the president announcing he was fired in a tweet. he's now eighth high-profile firing or departure just this month. and the president's pick to replace him, his own doctor rear admiral ronny jackson is raising a lot of questions. the president is putting his personal physician in charge of the second largest federal agency, overseeing the care of roughly 9 million veterans, and a nearly $200 billion budget. and while jackson may have experience running the white house medical unit and clearly has hit it off with the president, he does not have management experiment on this scale. now, veterans' groups are skeptical he is up to the task and lawmaker on capitol hill are raising questions about whether he can run this massive agency. david shulkin, george, he is not going quietly. he says he's the victim of an

mary bruce will sort it out for us from the white house this morning. mary, good morning to you. >> reporter: mixed messages coming from this white house this morning. president trump shocked washington and the world by agreeing to sit down with north korea. but then the white house seemed to move the goal posts, suggesting this may not be such a done deal after all. less than 24 hours after agreeing to an historic face-to-face meeting with the north korean dictator, the white house seemed to say, not so fast. >> the president will not have the meeting without seeing concrete steps and concrete actions take place by north korea. >> reporter: but this morning, white house sources say the agreement has not changed. the president tweeting the deal with north korea is very much in the making. and will be, if completed, a very good one for the world. in order to talk the white house says north korea has agreed to stop its missile testing. and allow u.s. military exercises with the south. >> look, they have to follow through on the promises they have made. >>

bruce. governor christie, i recall republicans screamed bloody murder when obama shook hands with castro. if president obama had agreed to meet one on one with kim jong-un without concessions, republican heads would have been exploding. >> remember republican heads also exploded when i shook hands with president obama. there's a lot of that reaction too. >> that's true. >> i think the president is doing what i think he's being forced to do given the failure of policy over the last number of years. it's smart to have the sitdown. i don't think we have a choice. we've allowed three administrations, clinton, bush and obama, to pursue a policy where they didn't engage with north korea. assuring us they would not allow them. we heard all those presidents say they would not allow a nuclear north korea. we now have one. >> would you have jumped on this offer? >> this is the president's style. i love when people are surprised. we're shocked the president decided to jump on something. this is the guy

as correspondent mary bruce puts it, robin may not realize that pure power of her example. so let us show you why robin sproul has earned a lifetime of achievement. >> i'm ready to go. ♪ >> you know, people say robin sproul is so nice and so sweet. i just don't get it. i don't know that she is 100% responsible for this, but my understanding is that when he started at abc, george stephanopoulos was a lot taller. robin was here a very long time. she was here a very long time because she is an incredibly loyal person, but also because she's so good at what she does. she has been in the news business for 41 years. the thing that people hear about and go wow is 23 years as the bureau chief of a washington news organization? that's -- that's like a prison sentence. but she didn't see it that way. >> you know, robin has managed all kinds of news events, including presidential debates and pools and negotiating first amendment issues with the justice department. and so even apart from what she has done for abc, she has done things for all of us who work in washington in journalism

our senior congressional kor correspondent mary bruce sat down with some of them. good morning, mary. >> reporter: good morning, robin. welcome to primary season. both parties are closely watching texas this morning, to see how the battle for congress may play out come november. democrats are hoping to seize on enthusiasm. republicans hoping the state will stick to its red roots. deep in the heart of texas this morning, the official kickoff of the critical midterm elections. >> i learned then what it takes to fight back. >> that's why i'm running for congress. >> reporter: democrats are hoping to turn this deep red state blue, fueled by a wave of female candidates. democrat judy canales gets emotional thinking about the moment a friend convinced her to run. >> they said to me, you said you always wanted to run. and i said, you're right. i did. and i thought, wow, i think this is it. so i thought -- i'm going to go for it. i'm going to go for it. and here i am. sorry about this. >> reporter: no, it's okay. more than 50 women are running for congress in texas alone.

our mary bruce is in washington, d.c., where they are bracing for what could be the area's biggest snowstorm of the season. good morning, mary. >> reporter: hey, michael. good morning. well, the snow and sleet is just starting to come down here but this city isn't taking any chances as you mentioned. this is expected to be the largest storm here of the season and already this region is shutting down, all of the major school districts are closed. the federal government, the area's largest employer, is closed too and here is why. check out this highway here behind me. this is one of the major arteries into downtown d.c. and these roads are getting slick. already nearby in virginia we're seeing the snow piling up on the roads there too. now, we've seen salt trucks out here pretreating the road, the snowplows are standing by. authorities here are hoping they can prevent this from becoming a messy and treacherous commute. now, normally at this hour this would be pretty bumper to bumper traffic now. as you can see fairly light. not that many cars out here and authorities are hoping they can keep i

chairman bruce remington said what really bid them was the nonconference schedule and performance. >> st. mary's had one win against gonzaga, it was a great win, but they didn't play a very challenging schedule even nonconference. we didn't feel like there was enough of a resume to put st. mary's in. >> you guys are seniors, 29 wins, at least 28 wins, and this year, it's not like i can -- if we would've done this -- i can't even tell you. should have done it. >> should have beat usf late in the year and should have beaten washington state. here are your top four seeds. xavier, kansas, villanova, and in the south, who on this set went to the university of virginia? get uncle vernon. >>> that is tiger woods, wearing the wed and brak -- black, he meant business, down by two, here he is on the 14th , got on in two! impressive, the putt for eagle was short and the putt for birdie, oh! off-line. missed the opportunity there. and then the 17th, how about from 43 feet away for birdie? how about pulling within a shot of the lead! that's beautiful. he needed two to force a playoff but look what

mary: opening this weekend is reimagining the 1974 classic death wish starring bruce willis, take a look. >> if a man wants to protect what is his, he has to do it for himself. >> the men who did it are out there. we are going to hunt them down one by one. mary: what do you think of that? death wish or red sparrow. >> red sparrow, death wish is one of the films you shouldn't expect to be as good as it was. a smart updating of that film because the original came out there were tons of copies with charles bronson. kind of a smart update. mary: you love black panther. i did love black panther. it is a cultural phenomenon for a lot of reasons. it is not like anything else we have seen and it takes the genre of science fiction and has something to say. mary: a lot of choices. sunday night, the oscars, hosted by jimmy kimmel will present the best picture of the year but may be a film you have never seen. article in the journal this morning saying that. of the last 12 best picture winners only four have been among the highest grossing films. what is your take on this? >> the trend may continue.