♪ i'm miking smerconish in philadelphia. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. the president up and tweeting, quote, i hope the fake news media keeps talking about wacky congresswoman wilson in that she as a representative is killing the democrat party. you're getting your wish, mr. president. we're now arguing over comforting gold star families pipe have a solution, and it's not what you might expect. and the president also tweeted this answer to a question i was about to ask -- subject to receipt of further information, i will be allowing, as president, the long blocked and classified jfk files to be

opened. president trump was the only remaining hurdle to this thursday's legally required release of 5,000 classified documents from the kennedy assassination. what might they reveal? plus, with north korea threatening war and the president heading to south korea on november 7th, is it too risky for him to follow protocol and visit the demilitarized zone. also there's a senator on trial for bribery, roberts menendez, but will it make it impossible to successfully prosecute any for corruption? and also this, another football controversy, but it doesn't involve kneeling. is this banner at a high school football game racist? but, first, i want to be heard on the controversy over presidential notification of the passing of our finest. i have a different take. by now, you know the story on

october 4, four u.s. soldiers were killed in niger. on monday, october 16, the pl president was asked by cnn's sara murray, why haven't we heard anything from you so far about the soldiers that were killed in niger and what do you have to say about that. the president responded that personal letters to the families were sent or that they were going out that night. the following day, the president called the widow of sergeant la david t. johnson and what he said became the subject of debate. representative fredricka wilson riding in the car with the family said the president told her he knew bhal he signed up for. president trump flatly denied the account. he tweeted this, democrat congresswoman totally fabricated what i said to the wife of a soldier who died in action and i have proof. sad. on thursday, chief of staff general john kelly who lost his

own son to warfare said there's no perfect way to make that phone call. stand that he had advised president trump against making them at all. well, on that issue, kelly was right. presidents should not, as a matter of course, always make such calls. it's impractical to think that they can think all of the families of those who make the ultimate sacrifice. take a look at this grid. it's one of the many that were periodically produced by the bookings institution during the iraq and afghanistan wars. and it shows this in may 2003, we lost 37 troops in iraq. the same year, 80. and in 2007, 126, then in may 2009, stwief more. how could president george w. bush call 126 gold star families or four or five per day for 31 days in that one month. and to call only some of them, would only invite disappointment from others who don't get that

personal overture. the last thing we want to do is exacerbate their grieving. a better approach is a personal letter from the president to each, a call from the local member of congress and an invitation to periodic gatherings were gold star families are invited to the white house in groups. maybe this will spare us the spectacle of what developed this week where the families of our very finest became political pawns. and if you watch this play out, and you found yourself instinctively rooting for one side to quote/unquote win, regardless of the facts, then ask yourself, if we, each of us, need to step back, take a deep breath and vow to analyze all things trump on the merits, and not on the politics. our soldiers deserve that from us. now, do you remember this scene from the 1991 oliver stone movie "jfk"? >> there are hundreds of documents that could help prove this conspiracy.

why are they being withheld or burned by the government? all of these documents are yours. the people's property. you pay for it. but because the government considers you children who might be too disturbed or distressed to face this reality, or because you might possibly know those involved you cannot see these documents for another 75 years. >> that scene is particularly relevant this week. the movie and the conspiracy speculation that it generated led to the 1992 law known as the jfk assassination records collection act which requires that more than 3,000 previously classified doubts and parts of 30,000 others must be made public by the law's 25th anniversary when is this thursday october 26th. jfk's assassination has haunted generations. and whether theories of those responsible besides just the

shooter lee harvey oswald. the only person that could have prevented the release is donald trump. this morning he tweeted this, subject to the receipt of further information i will be allowing as president the long blocked and classified jfk files to be opened. joining us to discuss, jarod posner who wrote the book on the assassination "case closed." in which he concluded that oswald did it and he acted alone. hey, gerald, pretty amazing that you wrote a best-seller on the kennedy assassination and came to the conclusion that the warren commission got it right. >> you know, michael, that's right, the conclusion is the same. oswald did it alone. but what the files are doing and why they're important to come out is they fill in the history of the case and show us how the fbi and cia repeatedly hid the

evidence. and a conspiracy -- it wasn't a conspiracy for murder as you just saw in that clip. that's what we're finding out in history and over the decades. the truth is oswald killed the president but there was also a cover-up biff the agencies to mislead the government to protect themselves. >> what do you think we're going to learn in the 3,000 files? >> well, you know, in these 3,000 files, when you say that tens of thousands of pages of documents inside of them. they're files but then larger materials in between. they include everything from files from the watergate burglar hunt, and carlos marcello, the mob boss. but the biggest thing, jfk looking for, historians where oswald was.

he went to the soviet mission twice and the cuban mission. what did the cia learn about his visit there. did he make a threat against kennedy as some have reported over the years. sources disclosed there, informants for the cia in the mexican government, some of them could be alive. it could be embarrassing for the mex kenicans but we may end up seeing the files. >> kathryn, put that tweet back on the screen. there you go, let's parse this. gerald, he does say subject to the receipt of further information, is he hedging? >> you're right. that's the lawyer in you, michael. i'm a lawyer as you know by trade craft as well, so, he is hedging a little bit. but what's happened here, as i understand it, "washington post" has a story today they quoted an unnamed security council member

who said both the cia and fbi came to the president and said some of these files can't be released. the only way he can withhold them under the law. he'd have to show identifiable harm to either intelligence, law enforcement, military defense or foreign relations. we get to that about the possible embarrassment, about former officials who actually spied for the cia. now, they appealed to him. if he doesn't find that harm outweighs the public disclosures he's going to release those files. i think that defeat is putting the cia on phonotice saying i'm going to make these files available unless you can make a stronger case that some may be withhold. >> if it happens thursday, the person that we owe a dealt of gratitude to is oliver stone who floated all of these conspiracy theories to begin with. >> it's so interesting, i always

say about the only thing stone got right in that film, he's a great filmmaker, but it is the result of that film going so far out on the conspiracy dprifring that congress reacted with this law. the files should have been released decades early. warren commission made a terrible error by holding on to this material. five million pages have been released about this case. most of them since the stone film. guess what, all of the people thought there would be something in there to show a conspiracy, michael, they never came out. and the last batch of files, the hundreds of thousands of palings, i'll tell you there's no smoking gun in there. there's nothing about a second shooter on a grassyy knoll, it' going to fill in the conspiracy of the case. anybody who think it's it's going to turn it on its head and

so three or four shooters, not the case. >> you told me on my radio show, that the truth after the assassination is that the cia and mob did indeed come together to kill a head of state but it wasn't president kennedy. >> you know, it's one of my favorite things you have this popular conspiracy. but it is true that the cia and mob were in league to hill a head of state. dwae it wasn't kennedy. it was castro. they couldn't even wound him. somehow, we believe that the very same keystone kops, they wanted a communist dictatorship, 90 miles away from the shoreline out of his hemisphere. they couldn't get rid of castro. somehow, these same guys pulled off the perfect crime in dallas. 54 years later we cannot find a shred of evidence about it, i just don't buy it.

>> final question for gerald posner, the remaining kennedy family members do they care, at this point, about the release of this information? >> i think that they for a long time would prefer that this information is public. because they know event waem ua will be. thy need to get it out. third li they'd like to have this chapter of history finally closed. maybe this will do that for them. >> gerald, nicely done. thank you for being here. >> thank you, michael. >> what are your thoughts, tweet me @smerconish. i will read some during the course of the program. here's one tweet that just came in and it says this. glad you will address this. i want the roswell file opened. maureen, i think that the big take-away from gerald posner and from this issue is that oliver stone floated what i believe to be wild conspiracy theories. and he did wrong my good friend united states senator arlen

speck specter in the process. it's because of him you're going to see it all. congress' response we can't have all of these theories and it will come out. president trump is about to head to south korea, the question is this -- has his war of words with kim jong-un made a visit to the dmz too risky? plus, take a look, is this high school football banner racist? that's how the visiting team took it. and i'll explain. the number 1 rated ego power plus blower. blasting 530 cubic feet of air per minute. powered by the industry's most advanced lithium ion battery technology.

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north korea is threatening the u.s. again. this week officials warned of a, quote, unimaginable strike against america that could, quote, a nuclear war might break out at any moment. president trump is heading to south korea on november 7th, agency part of his asian trip. should he go to the zee merelyized zone along the north korean border? all but one president since ronald reagan has toured the heavily guarded zone that has separated the north and south by 64 years. but in trump's case, given all of the fiery exchanges between him and kim jong-un, should he hazard a trip to the dmz.

blane harden was a correspondent for the region for "the washington post" and "the new york times" for thee decades. he's written three books about north korea. his latest is this "king of spies, the dark reign of spy master in north korea" blane sh, should he go to the dmz? >> i think to avoid a chance of bumbling into war, i don't not believe he should go. and if he does go, he should be tightly scripted. there's a problem with president trump when he talks about north korea, is that he makes threats that are destabilizing for the region. since the whole idea of a president's visit is to try to find a diplomatic solution, it's probably best not to risk something that would make the situation worse. >> you have used the word "rational" to describe kim jong-un. defend that term as it applies

to him. >> i think if you look at the record of north korea over the past 65 years, is they're in the business of preserving their family business. which is the totalitarian state. they threaten their neighbors. they've done it for decades with artillery. and now, they're beginning to threaten their neighbors, their more distant neighbors, like the united states with ballistic missiles and nukes. but it seems to be the same game, which is to preserve their power inside this relatively small country with a small population. and if you look at north korea that way, as a sort of family business that's trying to protect its interests in the long term. and look at its track record, that seems to be where the percentages are. and trying to control this regime, rather than to go to war with it, makes more sense. >> well what does he want? what does kim jong-un really want? >> i think if you look at the

family, as a whole, his grandfather created the place in the 1940s. and he ruled for nearly 50 years and died of natural cause us. his father ruled for 20 some years and died of natural causes. i think that that's what kim jong-un wants. he wants to be in power, running this state, throughout his life, without interference from the outside. that seems to be the conclusion that one can make, just looking at the history of the place. they have not gone to war but once, and that was in 1950. and it turned out very, very badly for north korea. the country was essentially eliminated. and kim ill sun, the great

leader, spend much of that war in a bunker. north korea is bad for china's business which is basically to sell the united states and europe material goods. so, it's a much more risky proposition, in a war against the west, and it didn't work out well the first time. it seems unlikely they'd want to do it again. >> are you suggesting we should be dismissive, not take seriously, not take at face value, these provocative statements that kim jong-un continues to make including that which i used to begin this conversation? >> no, i'm not suggesting that at all. i'm saying that we must prepare for the possibility of war. we must beef up spying. but at the same time, every effort should be made to try to find diplomatic connections at all level, publicly and privately. try to bring an end to the korean war. try to establish diplomatic

relations. try to trade maybe some military exercises in the region, to reduce those exercises in change for some freeze of development of nukes and ballistic missiles. to work on all of those things at the same time, but to avoid early morning threats that tend 0 do nothing but make everybody tense. >> the president is treating kim jong-un in some respects as if he's an opponent and we're back in the iowa caucus of the new hampshire primary with the moniker "lying ted" and "little marco" and "crooked hillary" and now it's little rocket man. do you think this has a positive impact on kim in this situation? >> i don't see how it could possibly help anybody to make threats like that. you know, other than presidents haven't done it. for good reason. >> but i guess to the president's defense, i would

say, and what those other predecessors of have done hasn't worked because north korea has continued to march on a nuclear path. and maybe he's trying to outcrazy him, you know? he's trying to -- as between the two of them to appear to be the more irrational? >> well, you know, that's possible. but it just seems that trying to outcrazy somebody is not a good way to run a country when you're the most powerful country in the world. you should try to talk to people. you should try to have strength. and then also project rationality. and an openness to diplomatic solutions. undermining one's secretary of state with tweets is just not something that's happened before in the united states. it doesn't seem like a productive approach to solving an incorrectly difficult problem. there are no easy solutions with north korea. but threats, just make it worse.

>> blaine harden, thank you so much for your expertise. keep the tweets coming. what has just come in, here we go. absolutely as past presidents have visited the dmz so should trump as commander in chief, it is his duty. william, it might be perceived as his duty, but you have to wonder if it's going to be a match on a powder keg. i can't remember in the modern era, the level of scrutiny and the heightened circumstances that will surround a november 7 visit of president trump to that particular locale. one more if we've got time for it. smerconish -- trump should go to north korea boundary and while there challenge kim to a duel, mano a mano, leave armies out of

it. don't go giving him any ideas. still ahead -- what could possibly go wrong with a banner at a high school football game. when the other team is called perry and the banner looks like this. we'll talk about the fallout in a west virginia community, when we come back. you wouldn't do only half of your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently? complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™ and when youod sugar is a replace one meal... choices. ...or snack a day with glucerna... ...made with carbsteady... ...to help minimize blood sugar spikes... ...you can really feel it. now with 30% less carbs and sugars.

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♪ a friday night high school football game in west virginia turned into the latest battleground in the polarization over president trump. brook high school was celebrating patriotism week and it's football team was going to play a pennsylvania team from pittsburgh. perry high school. so, some brook students created what they thought was a clever banner red, white and blue.

here's what it said, trump perry. a pun, get it, meaning beat perry in the form of a campaign sign. unfortunately, perhaps what they didn't factor in, the student body of perry, roughly 75% black. brook, 95% white. you can almost script what happened next.perry liberian saw the sign and tweeted a photo calling it sickening racism. brook's superintendent responded with a letter apologizing calling the baern nner insensit imdating and offensive sign. saying policies were not followed by school administrators to ensure a climate-free form of bullying. and at a board meeting last week, protesters lined up outside of the district administration building calling for the superintendent's firing saying she's labeling her own

students as racists. the meeting was full of passion. >> you say it wasn't intentional. i'm not sure where the environment of harassment or bullying by your definition, not mine, by yours, was created. >> we don't have a lot of meaning, but it means to me as a black person, division, separation, hatred. the perry parents were so -- i felt their pain. >> is there any way out? joining me now the head of the student body at brook high school ashley ibi. ashley, thank you for being here. what was the message that was being conveyed in that banner? >> so, before every football game, a group of students get together and they create a banner for this the students

section. and each week, for every home game, the student section has a different theme which is determined prior to the beginning of the season. and since the game against pittsburgh perry was the first home game after 9/11, the theme of that week was patriotism and red, white and blue. so, when the banner was created, we came up with the idea trump perry. because trump is synonymous with beat. and it's also the name of the president of the united states. so, whenever the banner was being created there was no intention of offending everyone, but once we saw people reacted the way they did. we understand that it could have been taken as offensive. and we apologize for that. however, the student body wanted it to be known that is not the intention of the students who made the sign but we are sorry for it. >> i'm sure that the brooke players knew who they were about to compete against. did the brooke students know the racial composition of perry? in other words, did they have

any awareness of the fact that this was a school coming into town 95% black in contrast with the composition of your school, did that enter the equation, enter into the thinking as far as you know? >> as far as knew. i know that pittsburgh perry is part of the pittsburgh public school district i wasn't completely sure of the dem graphics. over, i was under the impression that there were a higher constitution of black students at perry than at brooke. however, at brooke high school, it didn't even cross our mind because the students who made the sign did not have any racist intention. so, whenever we found out that it was taken that way, we were kind of blown away and taken aback because that's not what we meant. as far as i know, no one was 100% sure of the exact demographics. >> right. so, this was your school relying on the definition of trump meaning a winning card, a winning hand, beat perry.

not to say, hey, pittsburgh team, 75% black, you're now in trump country? you're now in west virginia, this is hostile turf, so to speak? >> yeah, we would have had the sign, regardless of who we were playing. it didn't withdraws our mind that it would be taken that way. it was merely a play on words as in beat and the president of the united states given that it was a patriotic game. >> the librarian of the other school catches wind of this the following day. she sends out that tweet i've always shown the audience where she regards it as sickening racism. and it take on a whole life of its own on social media as you know. i found most interesting the fact that your school superintendent apologized and said, hey, it was intimidating, offensive and then used the word bullying to describe that sign. do you know whether students were taken into account, consulted before the superintendent responded and put that word out? >> students were not consulted.

and that is the source of are the outrage within our community and within our school. within the apology there was absolutely no mention of our intent. and we did not have -- we did not have bad intentions. we did not send to a racial message. so whenever mrs. shoop issued the apology calling the insensitive, and harassing environment, we knew that was not the case. we're very welcoming of perry high school. there was no taunting and it was a good environment. students were not taken into account whatsoever. as student council president in my requests to call student council meetings, my requests were not discussed. i was asking that we have discussioning to mitigate the tension because students were upset, the community was upset and no one took my requests. >> here what i'm hearing as a

very poised -- as a compliment to you, the very poised president of the brooke student body, we sure as heck didn't mean it that way, we apologize if we offended you. and we're disappointed that our superintendent regarding this as bullying and went as far as she did in the apology? >> right. >> any more signs -- go ahead, finish your thought. >> no, go ahead. >> i'm curious, because this was the first game post-september 11. it took place, i believe, on the 28th. and user played other football games since then. and for all i know, you played last night. so, have the signs been reined in. all of a sudden, do you have to put up a different kind of a message? >> yeah, we've not posted any signs since then. we were instructed if we were to create any sign for any game, school spirit is pretty low at

this point. no one has gotten together to create a sign. >> okay, that would be a bummer if the net effect of this is that all of a sudden at brooke nobody puts up a sign anymore. so go put up more signs, okay? >> okay. >> ashley, thank you so much. we really appreciate you being here. >> thank you, i appreciate it as well. >> let's check in on your tweets and facebook comments. what do you got, kathryn? that's a while story, in poor taste, yes, racism, maybe. optics, terrible. bobby, i want to be sensitive to those on the opposite side of the field, but i just don't see it. particularly after listening to her explanation, i'm willing to accept the innocence of the thought process that it was a play on words and trump to them meant we've got a winning team. we're going to trump perry but i know from my african-american calls on sirius xm, that's not how many of them saw it. another one. smerconish i was prepared to say

not racism until i read quotes from the students and how it had a double meaning honoring president. paula, isn't it a bad outcome because of the heightened scrutiny and polarization that these kids are not even putting up signs anymore? i think it's a step in the wrong direction. one more then we'll move on. smerconish, as a teacher of teens they are absolutely capable of understanding the power of their words. it wasn't meant to be a joke. really, melissa, how do you know that? i accept the way that ashley just presented. i recognize there's a dispute. and the people are interpreting even that sign. it's like a rorschach test. a sitting u.s. senator is on trial for federal corruption, it's bob menendez. but will the recent supreme court decision help senator menendez escape conviction? i'll explain.

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a sitting u.s. senator is currently facing federal corruption charges. that's a pretty big deal, even in this news cycle. but what's even hour fascinating in the bribery case against new jersey senator robert menendez is that a controversial supreme court decision last year makes it more difficult for prosecutors to prove. you may recall virginia governor bob mcdonald has been found guilty of accepting thousands of dollars in cash and gifrt gifts was supposed to spend two years in prison but the unanimous scotus provision vacated the decision and changed the status for bribery. will this help menez december in change for favors. joining me now, one of the lawyers who successfully argued mcdonald's case to the supreme court, john brownlee, he's the

chairman of the law firm, and he's also a former u.s. attorney for the western district of virginia. counselor, i want to show you a head line from "the atlantic" pertaining to this case and ask you to answer the question that they pose -- has the supreme court legalized public corruption? >> well, first of all, michael, for having me today. i don't think so at all. i think what really happened in mcdonald was that the supreme court, rather than redrawing lines as some had contended, what they really did is highlight the lines that had always been there. there was a case in 1999, called sun diamond, a unanimous supreme court case that stood for reaction between politicians and their donors was not criminal activity. so you could set up a meeting or host an event or show support for their product or whatever and not run afoul of the criminal bribery statutes that were used against governor

mcdonaldm mcdonald and governor men then ne menendez. >> but hasn't the court -- so long as it didn't relate to a bill or contract. what would stop me from collecting $10,000 increments if i were an elected public official, just for hosting individuals in my office? >> well, i think what the court said, for this statute, fork the federal bribery statute under title 18-201 that officials must do or promise to do what they call an official act. something they call official governmental power. and common interaction between politicians and donors simply don't rise to that level. i think the reverse of that as the court has said gets to be an absurd result. let's say you gave your congress person $500 as a campaign

donation. and later on, you wanted to go meet with that congressman or have that congressman set up a meeting, let's say your son wanted to go to the naval academy. under their theory that could be a crime. so the supreme court, i think rightfully so reminded everyone that this kind of common interaction simply didn't rise to that. we're going to allow can government officials grant their access to government. we're going to allow them to support things all in democracy that requires politicians to raise funds, sometimes, an enormous amount of funds, to run. so, i think this was a right call. it was a smart decision. it was unanimous, all sides of the supreme court came together and said we're not going to criminalize common routine politics in america. >> so, how might the outcome, your successful outcome, on behalf of the former virginia governor now play into the defense of bob menendez?

>> sure. i want a caveat, that i haven't been in the courtroom, so, i haven't had a chance to watch the testimony directly. but, you know, i think that it's a different case in some ways, in the sense the governor -- i mean, the senator is really focused on the probe. why he did certain things for dr. malgrin. i think they've got the best lawyers in the country. and what they're articulating is the notion that he did certain things, those things are not an official act but the reason he did them is because they're friends. they have a 20-year friendship. it wasn't for corrupt relationship, this for that. but he was simply helping his friend out so that would make it not a corrupt relationship. i think that's their defense. i think from my accounts whether lowell and his team has done a very good job of trying to focus

the jury on the issues, wife the pro and quo of the quid pro quo, and it's my sense they've done a good job of this. >> is a great response i'm hearing from john brownlee who has a wonderful criminal practice. how do you think you would have responded years ago? >> you know when i was at the justice department, i was there almost 11 years, i did a lot of public corruption cases as a u.s. attorney. and we made it a point to follow the law. i don't think i would ever have charged a public official for nearly setting up a meeting or sending an e-mail or saying kind things about a particular company. that's what they did in mcdonnell. it's never been a criminal act. had i been u.s. attorney and this came came up that i would have allowed go forward.

i think when the supreme court speaks in the way in which it did, unanimously, clearly, and now giving guidance to public officials as to what they can and cannot do. i think it's important to note they made clear in my opinion that public officials can not exert pressure on subordinates to do things or do official acts. so if there's a contract or something out there that's a true exercise of governmental power, governors or politicians cannot exert pressure on subordinates or others to do these things. and that's real corruption. that's the problem. that's at the root, the traditional bribery of contracts and other types of things that affect governmental power. i don't think anyone thinks it should be a crime, if a constituent, who may have been a donor, goes townup to a governod says, you know, can i meet with your health and human services secretary and tell them about my plan. i don't think anyone thinks that of setting up that meeting should be a federal crime.

>> it might not be a federal crime, but at least to me it's unse unseenly, that i'm giving you a rolex or paying your for they s better judgment than to engage in. thank you for being here. >> thank you, thank you. >> still to come, your best and worst tweets and facebook comments right after this. keeping me from the things i love to do. talk to your doctor, and call 844-214-2424. by listening to an thiaudiobook on audible.ame and this guy is just trying to get through the day. this guy feels like he can take on anything. this guy isn't sure he can take it anymore. unwavering self-confidence. stuck in a 4-door sedan of sadness.

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good morning, everyone, i'm fredricka whitfield in for victor blackwell and christi paul. in about an hour for now a green beret killed in niger from isis will be put to rest. funeral services for la david johnson begins at 11:00 a.m. in his florida hometown. johnson's body was found nearly a mile from the site of the ambush in niger. the president of the united states just not letting up on his verbal attacks on the florida core