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"I think we have made good progress in background checks and firearms," said the president after his briefing. Trump said he was discussing various options with Democrats and Republicans and that he believed both parties wanted to see concrete action.
"It depends if the Democrats want to take your weapons," he said. "If it's a movement of Democrats to remove your weapons, it will never happen."
The answer did not provide the clarity that many legislators expected from the President as they prepared to debate gun control legislation.
Trump, although willing to support a new "significant" legislation, has not yet decided to support thorough background checks, said a person familiar with the situation. Instead, he asked for additional talks between senators, government officials and Attorney General Bill Barr to see if a proposal could be developed.
It is still unclear whether the White House will make such a proposal or issue a broader statement of principles. The president has not decided yet, said the person.
The question took a new urgency after a new mass shot in late August in Texas. The month began with horrific massacres in El Paso and Dayton.
Trump promised to act and even expressed some openness to extending background checks. But after conversations with political advisors and leaders of the National Rifle Association, the president's back-up support has been muted. He has since been vague about what he will support.
Yet he remained determined to accept a type of change. The White House assistants spent last month meeting with congressional staff to design a set of revisions following the deadly shooting. The Department of Justice has also prepared a set of options that was delivered to the White House more than two weeks ago.
What we do not know yet, is if Trump will accept a diluted background check, including a bipartisan audit championed by Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Trump spoke to these lawmakers, along with Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, on Wednesday. But lawmakers moved away without clear whether the president would support their proposal, which did not get enough support to be passed in 2013.
Some Republicans who voted against the Toomey-Manchin bill then said they could reconsider it now. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is close to Trump, said Thursday that he was ready to expand the background check. He said he discussed the issue with the president on Wednesday night.
Although Graham did not say explicitly that he would support Manchin-Toomey now, he said that it was a direction he was leaning on. When asked if he was willing to change votes, he answered "Yes".
In private, Barr asked Trump to support a measure to develop background checks. And the president did not exclude him.
But some of his political advisers have advised against it, citing polls showing such progress would prove unpopular with his political base. The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, said that he would only propose bills with clear support from Trump, which has not been done yet. .
At Thursday's meeting, Trump was briefed on summaries of each of the items to be considered, according to a White House official.
According to officials, this includes: the inclusion of minors' data in the background check databases; alert local authorities in case of failure of a background check; apply heavier penalties for straw purchases (when someone buys a gun for someone else); the prohibition of firearms purchases for persons on terrorist watch lists; increase the penalty for people who lie on background check forms; help states implement "red flag" laws that would eliminate the weapons of those considered to be at risk; add additional government records to an existing background check database; improve mental health services; and accelerate the death penalty for convicted mass shooters.
CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.
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