abandoned airport, the air national guard out of tennessee and kentucky has arrived and are militarizing this airport. they tell me off camera they have 500 guys, more are coming. they have been sitting at home for two weeks chomping at the bit to come, but there are so many layers of bureaucratic red tape and they couldn't pull the trigger. but the good news is they're here now. they've got supplies, and they're going to start pushing them into the mountains as soon as they possibly can. >> bill joins me from san juan. today's white house briefing sarah sanders said we're continuing to do everything we can to help the people of puerto rico. does the outlook on the ground match what we're hearing from the white house? >> reporter: maybe now that these guys are actually arriving and they've been wanting to arrive for two weeks. that's what the guardsmen told you. by point of comparison, snappers, the bar on key largo

that got obliterated by irma 38 days ago is open for business tonight. you go around puerto rico a month after maria, and it's hard to see that anything has changed. there's so much to do here. but a good sign that the guard is here now. >> so frustrating that a lot of those guys you talked to off camera say they have been sitting around for two weeks chomping at the bit. i talked to first responders who said the same thing, they were there for days wanting to get out and were just waiting around. bill, i'm glad you're there. time to turn it over to don lemon, cnn tonight starts now. >> thanks. i appreciate that. congress still a long way from a deal on taxes, among other things so this debate still far from over. i'm don lemon, thanks for joining us. new developments on what may be the most unseemly and least presidential argument from a very argumentative president. it comes in the wake of a story you first heard last night. congresswoman fre dri ka

williams reporting that president trump told his widow he noe knew what he signed up for. the president fighting back saying he never said that. this is about more than the president's pride. this is about the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the country. listen to what the president said in the wake of an earlier feud with a gold star family the kahns who said they made no sacrifice. >> i think i've made a lot of sacrifices for the country. i've made thousands and thousands of jobs, built great structures. had tremendous success. >> jobs are important, hard work is a virtue, but true sacrifice is giving your life for your

country. those who do that are true american heroes and they deserve our respect and gratitude. let's get right to it. good evening to all of you. the central question, april, is and what people want answered, including those family member who is lost their loved oneses in afghanistan, what happened? what happened? that's the question. >> we don't know all of what happened, but we're hearing drips and drabs from intelligence conversation that congresswoman wilson is getting. she's heard that sergeant la david johnson had equipment on him that was sending, transmitting a signal when he was located. and she is in the belief he could have been found after he

was left within those two days because that signal was still going on. she also said there was not armored vehicles for the -- for the mission there in niger. she said it was about the mission against boko haram, the group that kidnapped the schoolgirls from niger. she also found that equipment was not sufficient, meaning weaponry. >> not enough fire power? >> she's concerned about that, she's also concerned -- not enough fire power. she said they were ambushed, straight ambush. she said there should have been intelligence to know they were sitting ducks in an ambush. so she's very concerned on various levels but what she does know is there was a transmitter on sergeant johnson that was emitting a signal when he was found. >> here's the thing. she said this on cnn, on ""new

day"" and then repeated it with passion on the view. i want to play that and get the rest of the panels' response to that. she said this is this president's benghazi. here she is earlier today. >> i want to know from mr. trump what happened to la david in niger. why was he the last one found? why did it take 48 hours for them to discovery him? why wasn't he in an armored car or truck, why did he have weapons weaker than the terrorists' weapons. why were they able to surround them and kill them. this is going to be mr. trump's benghazi because i cannot get the answers, nobody can get the answers and until we get those answers, it is his benghazi and this whole thing about what he

said to the widow is a cover up. >> mark preston, a cover up? >> i understand why she's angry, and i understand, you know, that this fallen soldier grew up if her district. but you have to step back and let them investigate what happened. to equate this to benghazi, i think it's a little bit too soon, to be honest with you. i understand she's ang entry answers have to come forth but i think members of congress, especially in a situation we don't know all the answers, should be careful about jumping to conclusions about what happened and why it happened. >> david? >> i agree with mark that everybody should be jumping to cob collusions but nobody should be quiet about demanding answers because there is a story the

american people deserve to hear. john mccain was asked if the administration was being forthcoming about what happened here, and he gave a simple one-word answer, no. there is going to be more information here and quite frankly, every member of congress irrespective of party should be demanding answers about what happened. >> he was asked if he was getting direct answers from the white house, he said, no i don't think i'm getting answers from the white house, i'm paraphrasing. do you agree about the benghazi comparison? >> i had so many people tell me if it was this person who was president it would be plainly benghazi, but this person it's not called that. there are definitely calls for an answer. we've heard that senator corry booker is asking for intelligence on this. people are wanting to know.

for you to have four american green berets who died -- >> two of them were green ber s berets. >> yes, two of them green berets, who were ambushed. didn't have enough fire kwe power. question about when help came. there were a lot of questions, it reminds you -- there are some glimpses of things that happened in the past, but there nooem need to be answers from this. and some need to come from the oval office. we may need to hear from the president about what he knows about this. because the longer it plays out the worse it seems to be. >> mark, this is another distraction for this particular administration, but there's also the question about why it took the president so long to discuss this, might he have gotten advice or knew this was an issue he didn't want to get close to because people were going to start demanding answers about what happened?

>> that could be a legitimate source of query to find out what did the white house know, when did they find out, why did it take so long for him to acknowledge himself personal wlly, the deaths of these four heroes. i agree we need to find answers and i absolutely agree that congress, in its role, having oversight over the administration, should be demanding answers. i just think high rhetoric in the immediate days after wards isn't necessarily going to get you there. but i do think that the way that president trump and his administration has handled this entire situation is really incompetent at best and at worst perhaps they are trying to cover something up. but we're only going to find that out by a thorough investigation into what happened. >> david, might they have known something?

>> we'll find out through an investigation. i don't think we can begin to speculate on that right now. i think it is worth noting we saw reports today that there was an initial statement from the nsc at the white house for the -- potentially for the -- >> it was written and he never delivered it. >> but then sarah sanders used that as the basis for what she said from the podium, which is where the white house said they wanted to put that rhetoric. so there will be questions here about the time line and decision making, the thinking and the rational that went into the decision making over the course of the last couple weeks about how to talk about this to the american people. there's no doubt about that. >> thank you all. i appreciate it. when we come back, more questions about the promise president trump made to the family of another fallen soldier. why he sent the $25,000 check today months after he said he would.

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president trump somehow managing to make a bad situation much worse, worse today insisting that congresswoman wilson is wrong in that he never told the widow of sergeant la david johnson, quote, he knew what he signed up for but i guess it still hurts. >> say what that congresswoman said, i didn't say it at all and she knows it. she's now not saying it. >> here to discuss now cnn political commentators. did she retract her comments to any of your knowledge. >> not to my knowledge. >> nope. >> so the president is denying congresswoman wilson's account, but he's not offering any proof to the contrary. how do we get to this point and

why is the president battling this and doing this with these gold star families, angela? >> why is anyone acting like this is new? this is the same twitter belief that was on twitter yesterday and the day before and all the days prior to the election and during the election this is who he is. you can talk about the wall -- >> john mccain. >> there's a laundry list of people he assaults on twitter. unfortunately this time it was a gold star family. >> i spoke to the congresswoman last night on this program and i think it's how a lot of this got kicked off and she gave me her sentiments about what happened, saying she wanted to cuss him out. here's how she characterized the car. >> we were in the car together,

the limb see the limb mow sooen to meet the body at the airport. i heard what he said because the the phone was on speaker. he said, well, i guess he knew what he signed up for but i guess it still hurts. there's no reason for the president to be so insensitive, not only to the family of this soldier, but the rhetoric is disrespectful to the family of every soldier that has paid the ultimate price for our freedom and our community is livid, because this was our hero. >> the family of sergeant la david johnson has confirmed congresswoman wilson's account of the phone call. how is this appropriate? >> first of all, fredry ka, who i know is right. when she says our community, i'm from miami, sergeant johnson was from miami. i know her, she's not a rabble

rouser, she would not play with the death of a soldier, and i just cannot bring myself to understand how a commander in chief can see the sight of a pregnant wife draped over her husband, her dead soldier husband's coffin and still have the gall to get into a fight with fredry ka and with the soldier's mother who is now confirming her account of what happened. there's some fight you just have to step away from. even if you think you're right. even if you think you're wrong, you do not fight with the family of a dead soldier. you do not throw out the name of your chief of staff's dead son's name in order to make a political point. you do not attack john mccain, a national hero, just to make a political point. he did all those things on the same day.

>> scott, i have to ask you about this, because people are saying this is being politicized, that the congresswoman is politicizing, but the president was the first one to do it. do you think he brought it on himself? >> i don't think it was wise for him to try to litigate this issue in the press conference he had with senator mcconnell, particularly he was trying to litigate it vis-a-vis his predecessors and he didn't have the information how they handled these situations. i think an is right, there's nothing to be gained here by fighting with the family of a dead soldier. i don't believe the president intended to call this woman and cause her further grief. but if that's what happened and she believes happened he should apologize and say that was not my an tent. anna is right, you have to step away here. there's nothing to be gained

personally, politically, i'm sure the family has no desire to have this through the media spin cycle. >> that was not my intent and i apologize if it was taken that way. >> the foe focus should be on the gold star families on the hero. >> i agree. we also need to know what happened over there as well. thank you all. i appreciate it. when we come back, jeff sessions getting criticaled on capit grilled on capitol but one question he refused to discuss. plus he's not the only one getting questioned about the russia interference. find a price that fits. tripadvisor. refused to discuss. plus he's not the only one getting questioned about the russia interference. ok like i'm? shouldn't you be at work? [ mockingly ] "shouldn't you be at work?" todd. hold on. [ engine revs ] arcade game: fist pump!

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the attorney general, jeff sessions, getting a grilling today on capitol hill from his former colleagues in a nearly 5-hour hearing that colluded lots of questions on russia election meddling. thank you for joining us. michael, i'm going to start with you first. the attorney general facing some tough questions by democratic members of the senate judiciary

committee today. the committee he was a member of before becoming trump's ag. listen to this. >> did the president ever mention to you his concern about lifting the cloud on the russia investigation? >> senator feinstein, that calls for a communication that i've had with the president, and i believe it remains confidential. >> but you don't deny there was a conversation. >> i do not confirm or deny the existence of any communication between the president that i consider to be confidential. >> were you requested, have you been interviewed or requested to be interviewed by the special council? >> you'll have to ask the the special counsel. >> i'm asking you. you haven't been interviewed by the special counsel in any way, shape, or matter? >> the answer is no. no mr. chairman, i don't have to sit here and listen to his -- >> you're the one who

testified -- >> charges without having a chance to respond. give me a break. >> that was interesting. so were you, michael, surprised at the intensity of the questions, especially copping from members of the ag's former committee? >> no. because back in june 2016, he said he didn't remember 26 times and he also said that he was not going to answer questions because of the possibility that the president might assert executive privilege. so now we fast forward to october 2017 and he's still not answering questions and he's still not remembering. so it's frustrating for these members who have said this is what we want to ask you about so please be prepared to answer them. if the president wants to the assert executive privilege that's his pe rogive, you can't say it because sometime in the future he may want to assert executive privilege. you can't hold these guys who have an oversight responsibility

to get the answers to the questions. >> did you think sessions was cagey throughout the hearing today? >> no, i didn't. as you noted, it was a five-hour hearing. i didn't watch the whole five hours. i watched pieces of it. some of it was he was getting beat up by al franken on the same russia stuff that he has in the past. i think that's expected. i think some of what's been new this week is comey starting to work on his exoneration of hillary clinton two months before her interview, and that was touched on here. and at the same time the president bypassing the beltway crowd with where's the doj. it is his doj but that puts pressure on him because ordinary americans are asking the same

questio questions when cops are making the decisions, apparently two months before it's over, it raises serious questions. very unlike comey and his past history. but his last year at the fbi was terrible. and sessions was touching on that. and asking if mueller is asking you about that, that's harkening to that. >> may i add two points? >> go ahead. >> having been an independent counsel and holding american s hostages in iran, we created finals before we sent our reports to bush or reagan or interviewed jimmy carter. that is standard practice. the fact there's a circulating draft in may before a final draft in july is not at all surprising. the other thing i wanted to say,

which i thought important from the hearing, that the testy conversation between the democratic senators and this, is this, sessions was asked by blumenthal is it true that the president is seeking to investigate attorneys in areas you may be of inquiry, and it seemed as if the answer was he may be. that's something we have to keep our eye on because the notion that the president would be vetting people who would then have jurisdiction as a law enforcement matter over his case is a serious concern. >> ken, i want to get this in, i think it's important. at the hearing today it's a busy week for various russia investigators. robert mueller interviewed

reince priebus last week and then sean spicer just yesterday. today in addition to sessions meeting with the judiciary, corry lieu wen do you ski was questioned. does it feel like the russia investigations are picking up steam here? >> i would be shocked if he didn't interview those people. you look at the boundaries of his jurisdiction and all of those fall squarely within it. look, whatever anyone may think about how mueller handles his job, no one doubts he's in the top end of his profession and he's going to go through the list of people he has to talk to. and everybody you named is on that list. i'd be surprised if he didn't talk to them. so this is going to proceed forward. nobody wants it to linger. let's see what he has to say and what his conclusions are. >> ken, michael, thank you so much. this is cnn tonight i'm don

lemon. a little past 11:00 on the east coast. the white house waging war over comments you heard here last night. congresswoman frederica wilson saying president trump told the widow of la david johnson, quote, he knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurts. senator mccain saying the white house is not being upfront about the attack that left four soldiers dead two sb two wounded and how 50 isis soldiers ambu ambushed them. is this the president's benghazi? let's get to it now. good evening to all of you. jim i'm going to start with you. you spoke with the former cia

director, what did he say about the past 48 hours and the message from the white house about the four fallen soldier in niger. >> i listen today him speak for more than an hour, and this is a director that served multiple administrations through the years. i'm going to run through a few of the headlines from his comments. overall situation from trump, from his view it's a great cause for concern about stability in the world from a perspective of u.s. leadership. on the ri iran deal he said the president is being ignorant or misleading to the american people. regarding allies he said that the transatlantic alliance is in crisis in their view. regarding north korea he put the chances of a military conflict over 25%. that's just a few of the headlines in an hour of him talking about his impressions of the u.s. foreign policy and national security space under trump. on a particular issue i asked

him a question about trump's handling of fallen soldier in niger because going back to the first couple days remember he went to the cia, stood in front of the memorial wall with the stars that marked the death of cia agents in the field, which was not a friendly reaction from folks in the cia because it was viewed as disrespectful. in light of that, i said how do you view this and he gave a heart felt response. listen. >> mr. trump has his own way of dealing with things that i see as inconsistent with what some of his pres predecessors have done and how they treated it. i'm not going to dil dignify in any way some of the comments which have been made which i think does not underscore the spor importance, the significance, the sacrifice of these individuals. so i think it would behoove everyone to treat this in a

manner that really is as respectful as possible. >> that was restrained, frankly, john brennan there. earlier in my answer to his question, he lemeanted a lack of presidential response. in this environment many people label people, including former director of the cia as political. he was in the cia since 1980, served republican and democrat -- >> ask i ask you, speaking of responses, the white house drafted a response and the president never delivered that. >> first reported by politico, it was confirmed by my colleague in the white house. they drafted the response on october 5th, the day after these four soldiers died, originally in the name of the president and the first lady. then the white house told us they made a decision it would be

elevated more powerful to have it delivered by sarah huckabee-sanders. >> more powerful? >> iden don't understand that justification frankly. the fact is, regardless of that judgment, the president himself said nothing about these four fallen soldier for 12 days. nearly two weeks after they died. why is that? the president commented, as you know, via twitter, via multiple interactions with journalists, he commented on everything from the nfl, to bob corker, why not on these four fallen soldiers. it's a low bar for what is the president's most weighty duties, which is comments on thing on t sacrifice. >> why would the white house draft a statement, not give it and then use the excuse that it would be more powerful for the

press secretary to give it instead of the president of the united states. >> that was a mistake. there is no why for that. the president giving that statement is going to be more powerful plain and simple. to have it come from a spokesman or press secretary, is less powerful. so this was a miscalculation and a mistake. >> general, i would to get your response. what's going on here? >> i don't know, don. we're talking a lot about form versus substance. and truthfully, when the president has h his initial statement on monday where he started off in a very good way, commenting on the death of sergeant johnson and then he twisted and started blaming president obama for -- or suggesting president obama didn't do the kinds of thichngse did, that was shameful, and that's the word i used on cnn. now it's turned into something

that's disgusting. sergeant johnson is a member of the family when you're talking about the military. he has a family that's mourning and that is grieving his death. to have politicians on both sides, both the democratic side and the republican sides making this into a volleyball, in terms of what the president is doing or what the president is not doing, and then truthfully, i have to say this don, to have the media chase after this story and use sergeant johnson and his widow in the middle of it, to me it's disgusting. this is a member of the family, my army family. we have to wrap our arms around the widow, her children and make sure they are protected. we can debate what the president did, what he didn't do. that's one thing. but when we're bringing the family member into it, when we're bringing the widow and her children into it, that's just wrong in my view, and we have to knock this kind of stuff off. >> general -- >> it's contrary to what we do

in the military. >> i think you're right. and if you watch this program from start to finish, you'll notice the focus of the question is what happened over there that caused these men to lose their lives, and what took this administration so long. did that have anything to do with it? perhaps kimberly maybe they thought this was a hot button issue they didn't want to touch. maybe that's why this president and administration had a statement drafted and didn't deliver it because they wanted to stay away from it. >> i think they were trying to figure out what happened before they had the president make a statement about something that maybe turned out to be an incident that happened because of an error of someone on the ground. i think they were trying to get more facts about what happened before having the president have what is a sering conversation for a grieving family.

something that is edged in their mind. i would like to think what they wanted was all the facts. now, those conversations with tough. i've had them. i know the general, the colonel have both had them. and you sometimes say the wrong thing and you can see it from the spasm of pain that goes across the face of the family of the fallen who you're talking on. but what you do then is you try to say you're sorry. try to make up for it. somehow honor the fact that you were trying to say the right thing but you just caused them more pain. that's what we haven't seen from the president yet. i think that's what could inject a certain amount of healing into this situation that has only snowballed and i can only imagine these families are going through this awful grief -- >> all of these families, right. >> and right now it's a political football.

>> they do want answers. this has been the deadliest combat incident since the president took office. what do we know about the october 4th isis attack? this is for you, jim. and more to the point, john mccain, who is the chairman of the senate armed services committee, what does he want to know? >> he said in so many words that the administration hasn't been upfront in addition to being a republican senator and a veteran himself and a form r p.o.w. is on the senate armed services committee, they have a responsibility to this and he said they have not been given the information they need. that's real question, why did these troops die? did they have the support they needed? this is an outpost of the american military? how many knew they were in niger? not very many. why are they there?

there are affiliates of isis battling there. a group that carried out the attack is a group that's the islamic state inno hara, regardless. it's a real threat, do they have the support they need? there was question whether search and rescue were required after this. they were relying on french assets, they were relying on a private contractor for evacuation as was reported by barbara starr. who should be held accountable? is it the generals on the ground, the president. are there enough resources when you have military there. those are the questions that aren't answer. >> how could sergeant johnson's body been left behind for 48 hou hours? >> there's three kwquestions th

need answered. do we have the right men and women in place. where were these assets that they could have used, intelligence assets, logistic and evacuation. and then what happened on the ground? a fire fight, there's nothing like it to compare in the human experience. it's terrifying, scary, fast paced, confused. it's often bloody, there's dus , heat. all these things happen. these men will never lien leave a colleague behind willingly. sometimes in the confusion, it becomes so much that you don't realize what happens until the dust begins to settle. >> i have a short time left, general. >> you have a couple initiatives in the heart of africa. one is the chad basin

initiative, which is about five countries training five different african nations. they're going after boko haram, one is going after isis. some of those groups have formed into this new group jim said. what's interesting about that, when you're talking five or six or seven special forces soldiers with a battalion of african soldiers, there's going to be confusi confusion. i had an incident in iraq where a soldier was killed and he crawled to the bushes, he wasn't found for six hours and he died. those things happen when you're talking about getting people out of there, trying to fight the enemy, some may get left behind. but october 5th, africa command started an investigation on this. so a day after this incident happened, a 15-6 type of investigation was started and

all of that is taking place right now to look at the things jim just mention. was there the right medevac, did they have a good feel for intelligence, the kind of investigation that goes on is unbelievably intense and occurs when there's a death of an american. p so that is taking place right now. >> thank you all, i didn't mean to rush you along but we want to pay tribute to these four men. of course, it all began this whole narrative began with the congresswoman and the president really but then the congresswoman. but we want to honor these folks sergeant la david johnson is one of four soldiers who lost their lives in niger where they were helping local forces fight terrorists. staff sergeant dustin right, came from a family deeply rooted

in service. 39-year-old jeremiah johnson was a chemical, biological and nuclear specialist who earned dozens of awards and specialists. he leaves a wife and two daughters. brian black was a medic. he learned the medic dialect in niger so he could communicate with the people. he is survived by a wife and two sons. and 25-year-old la david johnson who lost his mother as a young boy and was raised by relatives. he is survived by his pregnant wife and their two children. so this one says ... ... dealership has great customer service ... (muffled voice) ... and has great deals! ... and has ... ... complimentary donuts. ... that's the one! cars.com. over 5 million expert and user reviews.

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paying respects to fallen troops and their families, one of the most solemn duties of an american president. yet president trump's phone call to the widow of sergeant la david johnson ended up becoming

a political headache, putting the white house on defense. joining me now is a former adviser to president george bush and cnn contributor dantonio, the author of "the truth about trump." peter, i just want to start by playing a clip of the president today reacting to this growing controversy. here it is. >> i didn't say what that congresswoman said. didn't say it at all. she knows it and she is now now saying it. i did not say what she said. and i would like her to make the statement again, because i did not say what she said. i had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who is -- sounded like a lovely woman. did not say what the congresswoman said. and most people aren't too surprised to hear that. >> why even go there? i mean, why? in other words, we don't want -- shouldn't the commander in chief

understand not to put the families in the middle of this as a political football? what did you think of that? >> i was appalled by it, but not surprised by it. of course he should step away. earlier people were saying just get away from this fight. but of course, they're right. there's nothing to be gained by it. but the key point here is that donald trump can't step away from it. this is a person who is psychologically and emotionally not well, he's not stable. it's not just this incident. this is one incident of a whole series of incident. there's data point after data point during the campaign and the presidency. he has a disordered mind. he's impulsive and vindictive. even when it's in hisself interest not to do certain things like drag general kelly's son into this or go after john mccain, he continues to do it. there's no strategy. this is a person who is just not in command of his emotions and

feelings, and his actions. >> i don't take the words of general hurtling lightly. he's a very moderated man. he said it's disgusting. i agree with him. this is disgusting. if you don't understand that. this is part of the job as president, and maybe we should consider that before we go to the polls. >> absolutely. i worked in three administrations. >> the last three republican administrations. >> yeah. and this is extremely important. you ore commander in chief, but sometimes you're pastor in chief. sometimes it's the duty of the president to bring healing grace to people that are wounded and in pain and sorrow. president trump not only can't do that, but he makes these wounds deeper and wider and creates more pain, not less. that's important, because it's deeply painful for the families. but it also tears at the civic and social fabric of the country. >> why does he keep picking fights, michael, do you understand it?

>> well, i don't think that it is a partisan matter. as peter was saying, presidents from both parties have been consistent in their impulse to comfort people in these moments of tragedy and loss. i think for donald trump, there is a consistent thing in his background, if anything is consistent. and that's that his initial thought is always to do the thing that he imagines will profit him. so that first question that he answered at the rose garden meeting on monday was about what happened in niger. his response was to deflect a little bit, and then go to this conversation about what president obama may have done or not have done and what other presidents did. and i'm not sure that he's ever aware of how he's being heard by

people who don't agree with him. so if -- >> even his own supporters, i think this is a bridge too far. listen, i want to get this in, because i think it's important. "the washington post" reporting tonight that the president told one gold star father that he would write him a check for $25,000 after his son was killed because the man's ex-wife was going to get the death benefit. what does that say about -- that the president would make such an offer? >> well, it's a strange thing to respond with cash to someone's grief. and also in that conversation, what was reported by the father was that they sort of bonded over the issue of wives whom they had divorced and thousand troublesome they can be. and this is a very crass level at which to bond with another man at a moment when they're talking about the deceased son.

so it's all a bit beyond our experience as human beings who don't respond with money to every question and don't respond defensively to every inquiry. the president has a problem in both these areas. >> "the post" reported the check never came, but the white house said the check has been sent. it is disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture made privately by the president and using it to advance the media's biased agenda." do you think it's a coincidence? it's the media, former president obama, it's always somebody else's fault. what do you think of that? is it a coincidence that the check was mailed the same day the story came out? >> no, no. there's been other stories, charitable gifts that weren't done and they were givered when "the post" was going to go with the story.

so it's really weird and odd that he would make the offer. and then that he wouldn't do it until the post called him on it goes to a deeper pathology. but what strikes me about donald trump is there's nothing sacred for the man. and that almost everything he touches is degraded. and these people are in a tremendous amount of pain and they need somebody to help come alongside them. and instead, he's making everything worse for them. >> peter, michael, thank you so much. i appreciate your insight. american services being killed in military operations abroad, health care hangs in the balance, the president tweeting about the nfl and why players shouldn't kneel. what the commissioner has to say about that.