the cmt awards show. other artists offered up stirring songs to the victims and devastating wild fires as well. i'm dana. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 in the east. the white house briefing set to start at any moment now. we'll see where things stand on the president's plan for tax cuts and your health insurance. the university of florida in gainesville bracing for trouble as police and protesters gather for a speech by a white supremacist named richard spencer. his first major event since charlottesville, virginia. 30 years to the day after wall street's black monday market crash. the dow closed above 23,000 for the first time in history. nasa gets set to fire up the enormous engine that will send the next generations to deep

space. we could see this live in our hour. plus, bigotry, white supremacy against any form is blasphemy from the american creed. that from george w. bush in a rare public speech. we'll play you his reminders for america and the white house he once occupied. let's get to it. sarah sanders set to speak in less than a minute and we're waiting to hear from the white house on a variety of topics, including ambush of troops in niger and the fallout. what happened? we don't know. why were that there? we don't know. john mccain says the white house has not been forth coming about details of the ambush. let's listen to sarah sanders now. >> good afternoon. as you all saw earlier today,

the president met with the governor of puerto rico this morning to discuss the ongoing hurricane recovery efforts. the administration is working tirelessly to help our fellow citizens recover and rebuild. we'll stand with them throughout this process. it's been awhile since i've had an opportunity to share a letter to the president from the podium and i have one today that i think you'll all enjoy. this is from mackenzie of dalton, georgia. mackenzie is 7 years old and in the second grade. she wrote "dear president trump, i'm writing to tell you i appreciate all you're doing. i voted for you in my school election. my mom is bringing me to d.c. on spring break this year and i'm very excited. i've never been there before and i can't wait to see everything. i'm most excited to see the white house. my mom said we have to written someone to ask to come in and i hope we can. i know you're a busy man, but if you could meet me or at least see your office, it would make my day. i would love to shake your hand.

you're our leader, a hero and a great man and i can't wait to see you and help make america great again, sincerely, mackenzie. your greatest fan. p.s., i can bring you something to eat if you'd like. food brings people together." mackenzie, the president saw your letter. i'll give you a tour personally. if the president is here, he would love to meet you as well. the press staff would like to invite you to have lunch in the navy mess in the west wing. we look very much forward to your visit and hope that you'll be in touch so that we can make sure that that happens. on a more serious note, we've had a lot of questions come in. i certainly addressed quite a few yesterday. thought today it would more appropriate to have the chief of staff address the questions

specific to outreach to gold star families. he will address questions on that topic. if you have questions throughout the day, the press staff will be here and happy to answer those after the briefing this afternoon. thanks, guys. >> thanks a lot. it is a more serious note. so i just wanted to perhaps make more of a statement than an -- give more of an explanation than a traditional press interaction. most americans don't know what happens when we lose one of our soldiers, sailors and marines a coast guardsman in combat. so let me tell you what happens. their buddies wrapped them up in whatever passes that are shroud, puts them on a helicopter and sends them home. their first stop along the way is when they're packed in ice, typically at the air head and then they're flown to usually

europe. where they're then packed in ice again and flown to dover air force base. dover takes care of the remains, embalms them, meticulously dresses them in their uniform with the medals that they have earned, the emblems of their service and puts them on another airplane linked up with the casualty officer escort that takes them home. a very, very good movie to watch is "taking chance" if you haven't seen it. where this is done in a movie, hbo setting. chance phelps was killed under my command next to me. it's worth seeing that if you have never seen it. that's the process. while that is happening, a casualty officer typically goes to the home very early in the morning and waits for the first lights to come on. then he knocks on the door. typically the mom and dad will answer. wife.

if there is a wife, this is happening in two different places. if the parents are divorced, three different places. the casualty officer proceeds to break the heart of a family member. and stays with that family until, well, for a long, long time. even after the interment. that's what happened. who are the best young men and women? they're the best 1% this country produces. most of you as americans don't know them. many of you don't know anyone that knows any one of them. but they're the very best that this country produces. they volunteer to protect our country when there's nothing in our country anymore that seems to suggest that sevenless service to the nation is not only appropriate but required. that's all right. who writes letters to the families?

typically the company commander, division commander, secretary of defense, typically the service chief, and the president. typically the only phone calls a family can receive is from their bodies. in my case, after my son was killed, his friends were calling us from afghanistan. telling us what a great guy he was. those are the only phone calls that really matter. yeah, the letters count to a degree, but there's not much that really can take the edge off what a family member is going through. so some presidents have elected to call. all presidents i believe have elected to send letters. if you elect to call a family like this, it's about the most

difficult thing you can imagine. there's no perfect way to make that phone call. when i took this job and talked to president trump about how to do it, my first recommendation is he not do it. because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. it's nice to do in my opinion in any event. he asked me about previous presidents. i said i can tell you that president obama, who was my commander-in-chief when i was on active duty, did not call my family. that was not a criticism. it was just to say that i don't believe president obama called. that's not a negative thing. i don't believe president bush called in all cases. i don't believe any president, particularly when the casualty rates are very high that presidents call. but i believe they all write. so when i give that explanation

to our president three days ago, he elected to make phone calls in the case of the four young men that we lost in niger at the earlier part of this month. but then he said, you know, how do you make these calls? if you're not in the family, if you have never worn the uniform, if you have never been in combat, you can't imagine how to make that phone call. he very bravely does make those calls. the call in question that he made yesterday, day before yesterday now, were to four family members. the four fallen. remember, there's a next of kin, designated by the individual. if he's married, typically the spouse. if he's not married, that's typically the parents unless the parents are divorced and then he selects one of them. if he didn't get along with the parents, he will select a sibling. the point is the phone call is

made to the next of kin only if the next of kin agrees to take the phone call. sometimes they do. a precall is made the president of the united states or someone would like to call. will you accepted. typically they accept the call. so he called four people yesterday and expressed his condolences the best way he could. he said to me, what do i say? i said to him, sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families. let me tell you what i tell them. let me tell you what my best friend joe dunford told me. he was my casualty officer. he said, kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. he knew what he was getting into

by joining that 1%. he knew what the possibilities were because we're at war. when he died, when the four cases we're talking about, niger, my son's case, afghanistan, when he died, he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends. that's what the president tried to say to four families the other day. i was stunned when i came to work yesterday morning and broken-hearted at what i saw a member of congress doing. a member of congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the united states to a young wife. in his way tried to express that opini opinion. he's a brave man, a fallen hero. he knew what he was getting to it. he enlisted. it's where he wanted to be,

exactly where he wanted to be with exactly the people he wanted to be with when his life was taken. that was the message. that was the message that was transmitted. it stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. absolutely stuns me. i thought at least that was sacred. as a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. women were sacred. looked upon with great honor. that's obviously not the case anything as we see from recent cases. life, the dignity of life is sacred. that is gone. religion, that seems to be gone as well. gold star families. that left in the convention over the summer. i just thought that self-less devotion that brings a man or women to die in the battlefield might be sacred. when i listen to this woman and

what she was saying, what she was doing on tv, the only thing i can do to collect my thoughts is to go and walk among the finest men and women on this earth. you can always find them. they're in arlington national cemetery. i went over there for 1 1/2 hours, walked among the stones, some of whom i put there because they were doing what i told them to do when they were killed. in october, april of 2015, i was still on active duty. i went to the field office in miami. it was dedicated to two men that were killed in a firefight in miami against drug traffickers in 1986. a guy by the named of grogan and

duke. they got in a gun fight and they were killed. three other fbi agents were there, wounded. now retired. go down, jim comey, did an absolutely brilliant memorial speech to those fallen men, all of the men and women of the fbi that serve our country so well, and law enforcement so well there were family members there. some of the children that were there were only 3 or 4 years old when their dads were killed on the street in miami-dade. three of the men that survived the fight were there and gave a brave rendition of how they gave their lives. a congresswoman stood up, in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there in all of that and talked about how she was instrumental

in getting the funding for that building and how she took care of her constituents because she got the money. she just called up president obama and on that phone call he gave the money to $20 million to build a building. she sat down. we were stunned. stunned that she had done it. even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned. but you know, none of us went to the press and criticized. none of us stood up and were appalled. we just said okay, fine. so i still hope as you write your stories and i appeal to america that let's not let this maybe last thing that is held sacred in our society, a young man, a young woman going out and giving hit or her life for our country, let's try to somehow keep that sacred. but it eroded a great deal

yesterday by the selfish behavior of a member of congress. i'm willing to take a question or two on this topic. let me ask you this. is anyone here a gold star parent or sibling? does anyone here know a gold star parent or sibling? okay. you get the question. >> thank you. you have a great deal of respect, semper fi for everything you've done. if we could take this a bit further. why were they in niger? we were told they weren't in armor vehicles and there was no air cover. why we were there? >> there is an investigation. the fact of the matter is, young men and women that wear our uniforms are deployed around the world and there's tens of thousands near the dmz in north

korea, in okinawa ready to go, all over the united states training, ready to go. they're all over latin america. down there they do mostly drug interdiction working with our partners, the central americans, the mexican. there's thousands. my own son right now in the fight for his fifth tour in -- against isis. there's thousands of them in europe acting as a deterrent. in africa. they're doing the nation's work there. not making a lot of money, by the way, doing it. they love what they do. so why were that there? they're there working with partner, local, all across africa in this case, niger, working with partners, teaching them how to be better soldiers, teaching them how to respect human rights. teaching them how to fight isis so that we don't have to send

our soldiers and marines there in their thousands. that's what they were doing there. there's an investigation. there's always -- unless it's a very conventional death in a conventional war, there's always an investigation. of course, that operation is conducted by africom that works directly for the secretary of defense. there is -- i talked to jim mattis this morning. there's an investigation ongoing. an investigation doesn't mean anything was wrong. an investigation doesn't mean people's heads are going to roll. the fact is, they need to find out what happened and why it happened. but at the end of the day, ladies and gentlemen, you have to understand that these young people, sometimes old guys, put on the uniform, go to where we send them to protect our country. sometimes they go in large numbers to invade iraq, invade afghanistan. sometimes they're working in

small units, working with our partners in africa, asia, latin america helping them be better. at the end of the day, they're helping those partners be better at fighting isis and north africa to protect our country so that we don't have to send large numbers of troops. someone that knows a gold star fallen person. john? >> general, thank you for being here today. thank you for your service. >> your question. >> there's been some talk about the timetable of the release of the statement about the -- i think it was three soldiers that were killed in niger. can you walk us through the timetable and what part did the fact that a beacon was pinging during that time. were you concerned that divulging information early might attempt a soldier's safety. >> first of all, we're at the

highest level of the u.s. government. the people that will answer those questions are the people at the other end of the military pyramid. i'm sure the special forces group is conducting -- i know they're conducts an investigation. that investigation under the auspices of africom. i know a lot more than i'm letting on but i'm not going to tell you. there's an investigation being done. but as i said, the men and women of our country that are serving all around the world -- i mean, what the hell is my son doing back in the fight? he's back in the fight because -- working with iraqi soldiers who are infinite lit better than they were on a few years ago to take on isis so we don't have to do it. small numbers of marines where he is, working alongside those

guys. that's why they're out there. whether it's niger, iraq or whatever. we don't want to send tens of thousands of soldiers and marines to go fight. i'll take one more. it's got to be from someone that knows -- >> general, when you talk about niger, what does your intelligence tell you about the russian connection and the stories coming out now? >> that's a question for africom or -- thanks very much. as i walk off the stage, understand there's tens of thousands of american kids mostly doing the nation's bidding all around the world. they don't have to be in uniform. when i was a kid, every man in

my life that is a veteran, world war ii and there was a draft. these young people today, they don't do it for any other reason than their selfless devotion. we don't look down on you that haven't served. you'll never experience the wonderful joy you get in your heart when you do the kind of things our service men and women do. not for any other reason than they love this country. just think of that. i appreciate your time. >> did the president authorize the mission? >> shepard: there you go. in law of the press briefing today, sarah sanders giving the stage to john kelly, the white house chief of staff making an emotional appearance at the white house briefing. general kelly opened up about his son that died in afghanistan while serving in the marines in 2010.

speaking from his own experience, something he rarely does, general kelly recommended the president not call the families of the four service members that died in niger last month. >> some presidents have elected to call. some send letters. if you elect to call a family like this, it's difficult. there's no perfect way to make this phone call. when i took this job and talked to president trump about how to do it, my first recommendation was he not do it. because it's not the phone call that parents, family members are looking forward to. >> shepard: general kelly says when his own son died, the own phone call that matters are the ones from his son's friends in afghanistan. chief white house correspondent

is live. very emotional to hear him speak that way but he speaks of a congresswoman. there's an aunt involved here. an aunt that served as the mother of this young man who died. and his statement is very powerful. theirs were as well. >> yeah, it's a case, shep of everybody seems to have their own interpretation of what happened here. i think what is really important to remember here is that general john kelly, the chief of staff, speaks from a point of having suffered the unbelievable grief that a parent feels when -- or a mother or a father, whether it's a son or a daughter or a wife or a house, a spouse or a brother or a sister or wife or house or whatever. he has first hand knowledge of what it's like to get that phone call initially and get that knock on the door. so his perspective obviously comes from a very, very powerful

perspective. then we have the other perspectives coming to us from south florida. one from a congresswoman who has been an intense critic of the president in the past. as you said also, the mother of the fallen soldier as well who says that she corroborates what the congresswoman says. the one person we haven't heard from in all of this, shep is myesha johnson, the wife of sergeant david t. johnson killed in niger. she's the one that could tell us exactly what was said and how she took what was said by the president. what general kelly said earlier about the fact that people that sign up for service in the united states know what they're getting into. people that sign up for the special forces for green berets for the navy seals, delta force, whatever, special operators know they're getting involved in the most dangerous aspect of national security.

they have the courage to go into that willingly and accept the risks. general kelly said that's the perspective from in the president was speaking when talking to the widow. again, we get the perspective from the president, we get the perspective, very powerful, from general john kelly. we have not heard the wife's perspective. at some point, shep, we will hear that. which may be able to further close the circle in this particular incident. i'll tell you, shep, i've known john kelly a long time. he was a keynote speaker at an organization that my wife and i are involved in that takes care of gold star families. just very emotional, very powerful today coming from his perspective. >> shepard: stunned and broken-hearted as he put it over the democratic lawmakers words in south florida. you know, it's our own bret baier, john, that reminded us this morning that it was president trump that opened the door to politicizing this.

now they need it to end. john kelly made it clear the nation needs it to end. >> well, we can take what he said this afternoon, shep and see where things go from here. i thought the most powerful thing that general kelly said was this -- after the erosion of everything else that we held sacred in american society had -- after the erosion of that, after that had gone away, the one thing that was still sacred is these phone calls and this process of notifying the family of a fallen hero. now that appears to have been breached as well. so we'll see where things go from here. perhaps the notification will again be restored. we'll see. >> shepard: john roberts at the white house. the defense secretary jim mattis says a full investigation is

underway in the death of the four troops in niger. >> we in the department of defense like to know what we're talking about before we talk. so we do not have all of the accurate information yet. we'll release it as rapidly as we get it. we're very proud of our troops. we investigate any time we have our troops killed, whether it be in training, accident or combat. i don't care if it's in a car accident and dod, we investigate the circumstances surrounding and see how we can address the very questions that you brought up. what can we do in the future. >> the defense secretary mattis, it's the first time we've heard from him since this ambush as it's been described to us. moments ago john mccain, the chairman of the armed services committee and a powerful voice to himself said lots of lawmakers may not have even known the u.s. troops were in niger. >> four just died in niger. how many members of this body,

how many of the 100 members of this body knew we had an operation in niger? i won't get into the details in deference to the family. >> shepard: as we reported, senator mccain says he may use subpoenas to get information about that ambush. jennifer griffin continues team fox coverage at the pentagon. jennifer? >> shepard, the frustrated tone from john kelly was replicated at the pentagon with defense secretary mattis. senior pentagon officials are extremely frustrated at the innuendo and congressmen that something is not right about this incident and the investigation of this niger incident. here's what we found out just now. a senior defense official says the u.s. troops were fired on once they were already in their vehicles after meeting with village elders in this remote

border area along the mali border in niger. 12 u.s. troops, mostly green berets were accompanying 30 troops from niger. it was a routine mission. once the first shots were fired, the vehicles scrambled to get off the x, which means they undertook evasive driving techniques to leave the site. i'm told during the search for sergeant johnson that was found 48 hours later, there were either french, nigerian or troops on the ground looking for him. the notion that they left someone behind is wrong i'm told by senior officials. secretary mattis just said the same. >> the u.s. military does not leave its troops behind. i would just ask that you not question the action of the troops that were caught in the fire fight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring every one out at once. >> also, the pentagon alerted

the white house very shortly after the firefight began on october 4. as soon it was apparent a soldier was missing, the national mission information, tier special 1 operators based in the u.s. were spun up from both the u.s. and also i'm told perhaps from spain. they're still investigating. the issue of time and distance has always been a problem in responding to the incidents in africa. french mirage war planes were overhead 30 minutes after the first shots were fired. they flew low and the jihadists were scattered. u.s. officials believe a new u.s. al-quaida affiliate, its leader is sought to be holding an american aide worker hostage. they believe that that group may have been behind this ambush, shep. >> shepard: on the matter of niger, jennifer, you've been covering this stuff for a very long time. how unusual is it to get nothing

from the administration or the powers that be at the pentagon so long after such an event where service members have died? >> i would push back that we the press or congress has gotten nothing from the pentagon. we have documented that within the first few hours u.s. africom put out a statement about the incident, the ambush. they said they were looking to it and began giving us details that did start to report. at that point, the problem that has evolved and we've seen this in previous incidents in africa, it's a problem of time, distance and communication. that's why africom has a general officer on the ground overseeing the investigation. it's not unusual to carry out an investigation. what we found in the past, any time a soldier is killed, it takes a long time to get to the bottom of it because the first reports from the field are usually false, shep.

>> shepard: thanks, jennifer. great to see you again. turn to ken thomas, white house reporter for the associated press. ken, thoughts on what we just witnessed. >> i thought it was a powerful testimony from general kelly. he seemed to take this issue away from a partisan squabble between the white house and a congressional democrat and make it more about a moral issue. the sanctity of these soldiers and whether something like this should ever be politicized. i was struck that he was so upset by the whole thing that he went to arlington cemetery to reflect on this issue. i thought that was striking. >> shepard: certainly was to me. probably grounded a lot of people that were stuck out on the fringes of politics on the left and the right and making everything political. getting to the bottom of what happened in niger is the responsibility of every american to care. he talks about how sacred this

ritual is and how important it is. for those that -- they fight in our name. americans need to know what is happening to our young men and women. john kelly is as aware of that as anybody on earth. >> and i thought that he described the conversation which had to have been incredibly painful that he had with the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, joseph dunford. as general kelly said, he was the person that he spoke to after his son was killed. he relayed in that conversation that, you know, your son knew what he was signing up for and getting into. that was advice that general kelly appeared to relay to the president when he was talking to him about how he would go about talking to families that just lost their loved ones. >> shepard: a lot more to do on this matter. would you guess that after this maybe they'll let this go for a while? when they speak of the

politician, he's of course on point about that matter. she was listening in the car. the aunt that served as a mother to this young man, any mom or caretaker of someone that has died in the line of duty, died in service to all of us and our freedom deserves a thought. >> yeah, it will be interesting to see if the congresswoman responds to what general kelly just said. if other family members wish to engage. it seemed like the white house wanted to try to put this issue to rest by putting general kelly out there. as you noticed, he took some questions and then they ended the briefing. they did not discuss other topics. it seemed like they wanted to put an end to this back and forth and move on to other subjects. >> shepard: you heard president bush 43rd this morning and was expected to be a speech on north

korea. we have some sound for that that we'll be playing a little bit later. it was bush 43 that said, let's calm all of this down. remember what the foundations of this nation are and what our ideals are. and that we're supposed to be a shining city on a hill and this divisiveness is poisonous. it was worth hearing. it was helpful to me through the day. >> yeah, i thought that was interesting as well. it doesn't look like this was coordinated in any way. >> shepard: not at all. >> but it does appear this is also an effort to try to maybe bring the temperature down a little bit on this topic and other topics and try to leave politics out of something as difficult as, you know, a family losing a soldier in combat. >> shepard: ken, thanks. ken thomas. white house reporter for the a.p. nice to talk to you. >> thanks, shep. >> shepard: breaking news now.

protesters in central florida opposing a speech from a white supremacist. he would call himself a white nationalist. they're the same thing. his richard spencer. he's speaking at the university of florida in gainesville. his first visit to a college campus since he took part in a rally in charlottesville virginia. the u.f. is a state institution. state entities can't discriminate against one or the other. if it's open to one, it's all to all. you can't say you can't come for instance to the kkk. you can't say you can't come to richard spencer's. it's a state place. there was a large campaign to try to buy the tickets that people that didn't want him there. students get together buying up tickets and bring them to an event and shred them. local law enforcement working together efficiently in case the protests turn violent.

phil keating is there in alachua county. he view law enforcement i'm told, phil. >> very heavy law enforcement presence. it's extraordinary, 500 to 1,000 sheriff deputies, police as well as state troopers. there's national guard activated and on stand by just outside the city limits of gainesville. there's a lot of counter demonstrators. that's the entry point to the auditorium, the phillips center where richard spencer is still speaking. he's calling for a post america white ethno state and that will be called by peaceful ethnic cleansing. a lot of people call that hate speech, including ken fox. the capacity inside is 1,750. you're looking live here, this is the free speech zone.

there were several hundred counter demonstrators in there. anti-nazi, anti-hate, anti-fascist. many of them signs that say love, not hate. love trumps hate. apparently a genuine nazi that showed up, red suspender crisscrossed over his chest. he had a big head and big side burns and a t-shirt that had swastikas over it. he walked into the middle of the crowd. we have some videotape. but the entire crowd of counter demonstrators chased him all the way down to the police cars at the far end of the street. it appeared that he had blood on his forehead and lips. it appeared he was punched a couple times while in the middle of what was turning into a mob scrum. all of the law enforcement

officers were not intervening but basically letting the counter demonstrators forcibly hustle that nazi all the way out of here and off the event. roads are closed. this is a major road here into campus. other arteries have been closed all day. barricades are up everywhere. for the most part, it's been a peaceful event. a lot of shouting between some of the people that clearly were alt right supporters of richard spencer. started at 2:30. a couple of warmup speakers. richard spencer went on stage at 2:45. the first 15 minutes, he didn't get to anything of his speech. it was the crowd shouting him down and him shouting back at the crowd basically telling the crowd what you're doing right now will be our best recruitment tool ever. this is anti-white hate. back to you, shep. >> shepard: phil keating at the

university of florida in gainesville. former president bush 43 spoke on this very matter today. two former presidents grabbing the headline. president obama on the campaign trail set to speak shortly. his predecessor, president bush, stirred things up. talked about the direction of our country, the one he once led. his poignant comments coming up.

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any form is blaspheme as the american creed. >> shepard: the former president talked about what he called a sharpened partisan divide and an atmosphere of bullying in american politics now. >> our young people need positive role models. bullying and prejudice in our public life sets a national tone. provides permission for cruelty and bigotry and compromises the moral education of children. >> shepard: president bush talked about russian meddling in the united states election says the united states has to be ready to protect itself from foreign threats. >> the america's sustained attempt by a hostile power to divide our country. according to our intelligence services, the russian government has made a project of turning americans against each other. >> shepard: in new jersey, another former president back on the campaign trail.

a live look in newark a few miles outside new york city. we're expected to see president obama campaigning for the first time since he left the white house. he's with the democratic candidate for governor. later, he will head to virginia to help with the democratic governor there. john bussey with more. this is new for president bush and notable. >> new and very notable. look, it will be taken as criticism of president trump. i think george bush is speaking passed president trump. i think he's speaking to the republican party to say look, there's divisions in the party. you have to be aware of them. it's splitting our influence, endangering the country. the quote that you just said about compromising moral education of our children, he ended that comment by saying the

only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to the civic values. this was a criticism of the political moment. you saw a little bit of that in john kelly's comments as well. he criticized the democratic congress person but he was also speaking to president trump who had participated in the politization of the death of the soldier. what john kelly, a painfully presentation. you couldn't help but know that he was talking about his own son when he talks about the death on the battlefield and pack it in ice and goes to dover to be embalmed. this painful moment for him what he was saying is that there are events in american political life that are sacred. this is one of them. the don't politicize it. that seemed to be said not just for the democratic congressman

but to president trump and i think to the country. >> shepard: to all of us. he spoke of gold star families specifically and mentioned briefly but notably the conventions over the summer. he said i thought, you know, under the quiet love of gold star families of sacred. i learned it wasn't. >> he talked about greater moral values which is interesting. this is not planned with george bush's comments. >> shepard: no. >> nor was it planned with john mccain's comments a few days ago, which once again spoke to large transcendent values in our political culture. he said not just about the gold star families, which was disappointed to see become a political football, but he talked about treatment of women, religion, the sacrosanct of

life. all of these values that were under siege in american culture, and so to the treatment of soldiers that died on the battlefield. he's speaking to this, george bush speaking to this, john mccain speaking to this. again, transcending the current partisan fighting, as george bush points out, the bullies in political life and trying to articulate big american values that if we lose sight of them, we are in big trouble, particularly with adversaries like russia. >> shepard: good to hear and painful. thank you, john. president trump may walk right up to the north korean border in a couple weeks. he's headed to asia. but the dmz is not officially on his itinerary yet. the latest on the debate over the dmz. that's next.

>> shepard: eight minutes before the hour now. symbolism, security and strategy all coming into play as president trump team considers whether he should visit the north korean border. the president is set to take a five-nation tour of asia in a couple weeks with south korea among the stops along the way. the white house says the president will call for more pressure on north korea and its nuclear program. we're still waiting to hear whether the president will visit the dmz between the koreas. his vice president and secretary of state have already done so. still there's a question of whether a presidential visit could add to already high tensions. there's security issues as well. standing within range of north korea's military. but skipping the site could send

a message of its own. rich edson is at the state department where they're doing the same. hi, rich. >> good afternoon, shep. the president would join his most immediate predecessors and high-ranking members of his own members to go to the dmz. a highly recognized for an american official to go. in april, mike spence sporting a bomb bomber jacket stared down the north korean positions. we interviewed rex tillerson inside a building in the dmz that straddled both positions. rex tillerson stood on the north side of the building during the interview. other high-ranking americans on the dmz, a visit by the president trump could be different.

no president has insulted kim jong-un. there's concerns about this as long. not only for the president's personal safety, but also given the rhetoric between president trump and north korea that this could escalate tensions even further. there's a concern about that. on the other side, it could be a missed opportunity. a way for the show to show resolve and bond between the u.s. and south korea. >> shepard: thanks, rich. the president of china setting a 30-year deadline for his nation to start leading the world. president xi jinping was addr s addressing his congress. he explained his vision for china to be the richest super power. the president's goal is ambitious because of their aging population and declining

economy. president xi addressed the economic concerns saying prospects are bright, but the challenges are grim. we'll be right back. for the holidays, we get a gift for mom and dad. and every year, we split it equally. except for one of us. i write them a poem instead. and one for each of you too. thats actually yours. that one. yeah. regardless, we're stuck with the bill. to many, words are the most valuable currency. last i checked, stores don't take "words." some do. not everyone can be that poetic voice of a generation. i know right? such a burden. the bank of america mobile banking app. the fast, secure and simple way to send money. with flavors you'll love.re like new savory grilled mediterranean shrimp. and new sweet and spicy

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>> shepard: the stock market crashed 30 years ago today, black monday. the newspaper headlines were grim. they called it panic and a bloodbath and it became known as black monday. in today's points, it's like the market dropping 5,000 points. these days the stock market has been hitting record highs, closing above 23,000 for the first time yesterday. now we're up again on this thursday. 30 years ago today, black monday. i was supposed to start my first job in television news that day. supposed to. i guess snl had something to do with that. the contract never got signed and we moved on. it was a grim day in america.

imagine the stock market dropping 5,000 points in one day. that was the equivalent for those times. it was quite a thing getting out of school going what's going on! great to have you in today. "your world" with neil cavuto is starting right now. >> neil: 30 years after a crash, did the treasury secretary said tax cuts might be a way to avoid another one? i'm neil cavuto. today we look back and we look forward, because history might not repeat itself, but what is that line? it sure does rhyme. what is rhyming and who is worrying? could we see all of that selling? 30 years ago this day it was of course one for the record books. as shep pointed out, a staggering 580 points sliced off the dow. a quarter wiped out. that would be more than 5,000 today. that was then. we'll ask house