in february 1850, abraham lincoln and his wife, mary todd lincoln, they lost their son. his name was edward baker lincoln. they called him eddie. he was not yet 4 years old. but he died. in illinois. february of that year, february 1850, died of illness. later that same year, december of 1850, another son born to the lincolns. william wallace lincoln, willie. he was born in december 1850. in february 1862, when willie was 11 1/2 years old, by which time abraham and mary todd lincoln were president and first lady of the united states, february 20th, 1862, the

lincolns lost yet another son. willie lincoln, aged 11 1/2, died in the white house while his father was president and mother was first lady. also died of childhood illness, typhoid fever. president and first lady were plunged into profound grief. abraham lincoln is believed by modern scholars whoto have suffered with profound depression in life and presidency. but what he and his wife went through in 1862 was something different. they had lost a first son in 1850, then a second son who had been born just after they lost their first one. lost both little boys in childhood. and lincolns had this to deal with on top of everything else that was upon them. with country being in grips of civil war. and in that dark year, in 1862,

with everything else that was going on with the country and for the white house and for the lincoln family, that winter in 1862, after his second son had died, president lincoln got word that an old friend of his from illinois, william mccullough, had been killed fighting for union army in battle of mississippi. and you know one thing that's a blessing working in this building under the auspices of nbc news, i don't know that many other places where you're doing daily work you have a presidential historian on standby at all times. but we have that. whenever it helps to contextualize the news we can call michael to see if there is something he knows of from presidential history that could help explain what's going on now

in our current life. so we contacted michael beschloss for his help trying to figure out if there was something unprecedented about president trump's remarks in the rose garden on monday, flippant, casual asides he made glibly monday afternoon in the rose guard when he volunteered what turned out to be false information about previous presidents, particularly president obama and ways previous presidents had interacted with families of soldiers who were killed in action. president made those remarks on monday in rose garden and caused a great uproar. we contacted michael beschloss to see if the comments were unprecedented or something else was like this in u.s. history to remember at time like this, talking about what president trump did that upset so many people. in response to query he sent us this letter.

he told us about the long history of presidents sending letters and making sympathy phone calls and visiting with families of fallen soldiers and how profoundly that responsibility has affected presidents over the year. but said this handwritten letter from lincoln, what i think is the most eloquent such letter. most eloquent condolence letter that president has sent. this letter is what lincoln wrote when he learned in 1862 about the death of his friend william mccullough fighting in the civil war. wrote this letter to mccullough's daughter in dark year of 1862 when he and country and his own family were dealing with so much trauma and grief. so much of the power is seeing handwritten form. the words that lincoln wrote are not just historical artifact.

they're still important as to what we expect of the presidency and understand as moral inheritance as nation. way michael put it, not only most eloquent example of presidential condolence letter to family of fallen soldier, i find it so beautiful, i think what lincoln has written consoles anyone dealing emotionally with significant loss. this is that letter from lincoln. you can see at top it's on stationery, executive mansion and preprinted in washington, comma, date and year. the letter says -- dear fanny. it is with deep grief that i learn of the death of your kind and brave father. in this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all and to the young with bitterest agony, it takes them unawares. older have learned to ever expect it. i'm anxious to aleve some of your distress. perfect relief is not possible except with time.

you cannot now realize that you will ever feel better. is this not so? and yet it is a mistake. you are sure to be happy again. to know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. i have had experience enough to know what i say. the memory of your dear father, instead of an agony will yet be a sad, sweet feeling in your heart. of a pure and holier sort than you have known before. then he signs off, please present kind regards to afflicted mother, sincere friend, a. lincoln. one page. that's how it's done. right? and every american president since lincoln has the unfortunate reality at some point of being compared with lincoln. no other president will ever be him. but having that document in our history, in public record, as standard of decency and moral

generosity from a president, having that in our ethical bank as a country makes it almost impossible to compute what the current news cycle has just revealed, dredged up, about the behavior of the current occupant of the same office that abraham lincoln once held. widow of u.s. army sergeant received a phone call from the president yesterday about loss of her husband in an isis ambush in niger. we learned about the content of that call late last night, what the president actually said to that grieving widow from the congress woman who represents the district where sergeant johnson's family lives, known the family for years and with the widow when she received the president's call. >> spoke to the widow of sergeant johnson, myesha. how is she doing?

>> she's very distraught. we were in the car together, in the limousine, headed to meet the body at the airport. so i heard what he said. because the phone was on speaker. >> what did he say? >> well, basically he said -- well i guess he knew what he signed up for. but i guess it still hurts. that's what he said. >> president said to her, he knew what he signed up for. >> he knew what he was signing up for. >> but when it happens, it hurts anyway. >> uh-huh. almost as if this is a young, young woman, who has two children, who is six months

pregnant with a third child. has just lost her husband. she was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral. which gives her all kinds of nightmares, how his body must look, how his face must look. and this is what the president of the united states says to her? >> after that account from the congress woman last night and again this morning, reiterated comments this morning, president was asked if he honestly said that to that grieving widow last night. this was his response. >> mr. president, sergeant johnson on the phone yesterday. >> didn't say what the congress woman said. didn't say it at all. she knows it. and she now is not saying it. i did not say what she said. and i'd 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 sounded like a lovely woman. did not say what the congress woman said and most people not surprised by that. >> the proof mr. president? >> let her make her statement again and then you'll find out. >> she is saying you said this. >> let her make her statement again and you'll find out. >> after the president with arms folded denied that account about this call to this grieving widow, congresswoman wilson said she stood by it. didn't retract the account. although the president insisted that he had proof he had not said any of the things that the congresswoman quoted him saying, if you're looking for proof, wasn't just congresswoman listening in on the conversation. that was conversation in which the president was on speaker phone and people who heard his remarks not only the widow and congresswoman but another member of sergeant johnson's families who confirms that the congresswoman's account is

correct. told "washington post," president trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and me and my husband. confirmed again to the "new york times" tonight. knew what he was getting into when he signed up. yes he did state that comment. it is one thing if the president inadvertently spoke in unintentionally callous manner to somebody he should have prepared better to speak to. that's one thing, its own failure. another matter when the president then called on that chooses to deride the grieving family of a fallen soldier as liars. now, in the uproar caused by the revelations today, then learned

that president had also sometime this summer called father of army sergeant killed in afghanistan in june. in middle of the call with the president, chris baldridge, father, says the conversation took unexpected turn when president volunteered in middle of the conversation, quote, i'm going to quote write you a check out of personal account for $25,000. president speaking with grieving father of u.s. army corporal who was killed, told him he was going to send the father a large personal check, according to the grieving father. happened in the conversation after the dad said he didn't expect to benefit from the pentagon's death benefit for his son. thought it would go to his wife. interesting thing that president would promise to personally make a financial contribution to this father. reportedly a shocking thing that

president had offered to send him personally some money. it's all interesting. unusual. the part that's nauseating is "washington post's" further reporting is that president trump didn't send the check after he told him he would. not apparently until today when news of him not sending the check ended up reported in "the washington post." after hours of dodging "post" reporters on the story, who had spoken to the father and heard of the president promise and the father saying the president's check never arrived. hours of trying to check this out with white house and white house not responding or giving explanation what happened with the president's personal financial offer to this grieving father. this evening white house spokeswoman put out statement calling the media disgusting,

saying, quote, the check has been sent. further reported that what she meant, the check was sent tonight. once the president's broken promise became national news. beyond that, appear to have dragged many of the grieving families through it. only been in office nine months, anybody killed in action since he's been president, relatively recent occurrence, can all expect to be raw and hurt and actively grieving and dealing with logistics in some cases of the death. knowing the circumstance and fresh grief of the families, what they're going through right now, makes reporting like this almost impossible for us to understand as americans. it's almost impossible to believe this is real. but quoting from "washington post" tonight. sergeant brooks, aged 30, killed

on august 13th in iraq. his father, evince brooks, has not heard from the white house. president's claim that he had called every military family to lose a son or daughter since he's been president only upset the brooks family more. brooks said after watching the news on tuesday night, he wanted to set up twitter account to get the president's attention. said to my daughter, can you teach me to tweet so i can tell the president he's a liar? you know when you hear people lying and you want to fight? that's the way i feel. he's a damn liar. nobody wants to live in country when people can credibly call the leader of the country a liar. but when a credible and well-founded complaint, can be waged by somebody whose son died in uniform fighting for united states of america, we don't have many circuits as americans to process this moral disgrace in our leadership.

it's hard for us as country to face the loss borne of families of service members anyway in normal times. u.s. armed forces have fought the longest war in u.s. history and other wars alongside, less than 1% of american families have somebody serving while those wars have been happening and civilian life proceeded as if the wars not happening. it's therefore already hard for us as country to face the sacrifices and losses that these patriotic families have gone through. done something we civilians will never do. incurred a debt from this country we don't know how to pay back already. it's hard in normal times but it's incomprehensible for us as country to see these families of all people jerked around, lied to, called liars by the president. shortly after they died.

and so this -- this just feels like a strange news story to report. it feels surreal. it feels so -- it feels so unbelievable. this is happening. i want to say though, there is something else happening here too. that isn't just a moral decency thing. it's a political tactic. that's at work here. not a dumb political tactic. that story is next. er lakes is helping build the new new york. once home to the world's image center, new york state is now a leader in optics, photonics and imaging. fueled by strong university partnerships, providing the world's best talent. and supported with workforce development to create even more opportunities. all across new york state, we're building the new new york. to grow your business with us in new york state, visit esd.ny.gov.

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go back to the first week of march this year. on march 1st, "washington post," "new york times," "wall street journal," reported that jeff sessions had in fact met multiple times with russian officials during the presidential campaign. even though he repeatedly denied that, even under oath. march 1st. reports came out about sessions having meetings with russians. march 1st he came out and insisted inaccurate. never ever met with russians in the campaign. march 1st. march 2nd, changed his mind, admitted he had taken meetings with russians.

same day, march 2nd, j.d. gordon and carter page admitted to taking meetings with russian government officials despite earlier denials. that same day "new york times" reported that trump's national security adviser and trump's son-in-law jared kushner had taken meetings during the campaign they failed to disclose. all in two days. march 1st and march 2nd this year. white house had previously been giving blanket denials that anybody from campaign or transition had taken any meetings with russians. just blown out of the water with the reporting. then march 4th, what? bright and early.

6:35 in the morning, what's this? just found out obama had my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory. nothing found. made that remarkable claim before dawn on the fourth day of march after flurry of damning reporting about the trump campaign and secret contact with the russians. once he made that proclamation, everybody was obliged to play 6-year-old soccer and run down the field chasing the ball he kicked down there. that became the story of the week. this is a political tactic, not just distraction, it's diversion of a difficult line of inquiry. i mean -- in the first week of march, cascade of reporting that trump campaign personnel are meeting with russian officials in the campaign and covering it up. litany, page and gordon and flynn and sessions, all having to admit it.

bad news cycle for the white house. president's decision about what to do about that is divert that line of inquiry. don't just start talking about something else and hope you can change the subject, instead try to harness the energy of the initial damning news story and turn it to something related but different. so president made diversionary statement on different issue vaguely related to question at hand. effect was to sap the initial story of its punch. to divert it or muddy it up. once he created that diversionary story line, now depends on if you like to listen to the white house to get your news or not, might still be thinking of the intelligence scandal that broke in washington first week of march as lots of trump officials having secret meetings with russians in the campaign or you might think the scandal was obama wiretapping trump tower.

either way sort of seems like same thing. all upset about a scandal. which scandal again? president obama never wiretapped trump tower. saying so at that moment made the previous president a factor in the news cycle. got obama administration officials involved in defending the president from outrageous and false allegation. gave conservative media something to disclaim about and demand the media start covering because it was the real scandal. it's not just distraction, it's diversion. just barely related enough in terms of subject matter, doesn't just challenge people to talk about something new but stands in for real scandal. muddies real story's story line. diverts energy from the initial news cycle that was difficult for the white house to deal with.

not just distraction, diversion. that's political tactic. you can learn it or have it instinctually. either way, pretty good tactic. today, reason the country is having our hearts torn to bits over the news of how this president has talked to and about families of service members killed overseas is not because the president's interactions with the families of killed service members was ever brought up this week, that story line, even questions about that didn't emerge organically on their own. reason we're talking about this is president brought it up without being asked. when the president on monday made initial false claims about president obama not calling families of service members killed in action, those comments that caused us to call michael beschloss about presidents in the past.

when he made the comments, he hadn't been asked about calling soldier's families or condolence practices in his white house or others, wasn't asked about president obama. these conversations and nauseating revelations about how president trump has behaved and spoken towards service member's families were nothing anybody else brought up. they're what he brought up, diverted story to. what original story was, what he was asked about when he brought up this topic, what he diverted from was this. >> why haven't we heard about the soldiers killed in niger and what do you have to say about that? >> president didn't answer that question. why haven't we heard anything from you about the soldiers killed in niger? didn't answer that question. instead diverted discussion to inflammatory thing that's taken up three days of news, inflammatory false assertions

about the ways he contacts families and way other presidents have approached that issue. there's still no answer about why he made no public statements about four u.s. army soldiers, killed in niger where most americans didn't even know we have sizeable amount of troops. how dangerous, specific operational mission they were engaged in when they were lost? does the president have response to their deaths? when the ambush happened that killed them october 4th, white house said that the president had been briefed on their deaths but no word from him. original report was three had been killed, then the body of fourth was recovered. still no word from the

president. two days into the crisis, already starting to be weird that president was making no public remarks about it. >> body of another u.s. soldier has just been discovered by local forces in niger, which brings to four the total number of green berets that were killed on the wednesday in niger. so far there's been no response to this by the president, no tweet from the president, no statement from the president. >> press corp. is already asking the white house. almost two weeks ago in white house briefing room. it was strange even two weeks ago that president had made no public response or statement about these american soldiers being killed in niger. it's 12 days on and still no public response from the president. when he was asked about it on monday in rose garden, he responded with diversion about president obama not calling

families of service members he heard, or maybe not, i don't know. even today the white house still will not explain why the president has made no public remarks on the deaths of these soldiers. not on his own behavior, about president obama, but what happened in niger. late today politico.com thoroughly called the question on this matter with remarkable leaked document out of the pentagon or white house. not sure. killed october 4th. october 5th, national security council drafted statement for the president to release about it, acknowledging the deaths, mourning the loss. decent, noble, simple statement, kind of statements that presidents make when these things happen. drafted for president, october 5th. circulated and for some reason the president ignored it. and for some reason. didn't issue the statement written for him and cleared by dod and national security council. didn't do it then, still hasn't done it. why?

nobody knows. and somebody inside the process of writing that statement is mad enough about it they sawed the statement to reporter from politico who was able to report on it today. still no explanation for the reticence. and apparently don't know how to deal with it. circulated but never released and not immediately clear why. spokesman michael anton declined to comment. staffer who wrote the initial statement quote hung up on a politico reporter who called to ask about it. the powers and responsibilities of the presidency are obviously vast. you see how it prematurely ages them right? hard to know how individual humans get that job done, let alone find energy and focus and

compassion within the job to show the kind of grace that abraham lincoln showed in condolence letter he sent to his friend's daughter in the civil war in 1862 when he was awash in his own grief. but being president, getting elected president, staying president, doesn't just require strength and remarkable personal characteristics, it also requires innate political intelligence or at least instinct. something about what happened in niger has caused this president apparently instinctually to divert the conversation from what happened to those soldiers, even acknowledging publicly the deaths of those soldiers and what happened to them. he will not talk about it.

why were they under armed and under armored in place -- isis ambush. was it french, was u.s. private contractors? was there evacuation plan? if not is it because military didn't expect them to be in danger? why was that intelligence wrong if that's the basis? after dheez these reports that la david johnson was separated and his body was not located until after the others were found, do we know why that is? do we how it is that sergeant johnson was separated? was he initially taken alive? what was the mission? was it worth it to have him there? what is the u.s. going to do in response to the deaths? there's something about what happened in niger that the president has instinctually diverted the conversation from. to the point that he will not issue an already prepared statement that someone has written for him on the matter.

rather have a national conversation about callousness and mistakes and forgetting to send a check to families of servicemen killed in action, rather talk about that than what happened in niger. that makes me really want to know what happened in niger. be right back. whoooo. i enjoy the fresher things in life. fresh towels. fresh soaps. and of course, tripadvisor's freshest, lowest... ...prices. so if you're anything like me... ...you'll want to check tripadvisor. we now instantly compare prices...

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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it takes nine seconds, watch this, nine seconds turns out to be a surprisingly long time. >> why did it take so long?

>> the investigation? >> no, to fire him? >> most compelling nine seconds of the news day. today. attorney general jeff sessions maintained vigorously today that reason the president fired james comey is because of the handling of the clinton e-mail investigation in summer of 2016. okay then, if that's why, why didn't he get fired until this may? pause. pause. pause. senator, you there? this was supposed to be a routine oversight hearing before the senate judiciary committee today. it was not. that story is next. "the snowman killer".

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ltry align probiotic.n your digestive system? for a non-stop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. get 24/7 digestive support, with align. the #1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. also in kids chewables. last time jeff sessions spent time with former colleagues on the judiciary committee was in january for confirmation hearing for attorney general, pointedly didn't tell the truth to senate colleagues when he said he hadn't talked to russians during the campaign. later had to admit he had. got jeff sessions back today and amid the awkward pauses, time to tie up loose ends and knots. >> have you discussed with him

russian interference in our elections? >> no. >> have you discussed sanctions like the hack, adoption issue? >> i don't believe i've had any discussion about that act. >> have you discussed with them any policies or positions of the campaign or trump presidency? >> i'm not sure about that. could have been that in that meeting in my office or at the convention that some comment was made about what trump's positions were. i think that's possible. >> not being able to recall what you discussed with him is very different than saying i have not had communications with the russians. ambassador from russia is russian. first it was i did not have communications with russians. which was not true. then it was i never met with any russians to discuss any political campaign.

which may or may not be true. now it's i did not discuss interference in the campaign. that to me is moving the goal post every time. you don't believe that surrogates from the trump campaign had communications with the russians, is that what you're saying? >> i did not and not aware of anybody else that did. i don't believe it happened. >> and you don't believe it now. that's what i wanted to ask you. down that michael flynn was a surrogate for the campaign? >> could probably have been defined as that. >> paul manafort, surrogate for the campaign? >> for a short time he was chairman of the campaign. >> do you believe that jared kushner was a surrogate for the campaign? >> i really don't know whether his role -- i sort of see --

there's no clear definition i assume, but surrogate is someone normally speaking on behalf of the candidate. >> do you believe donald trump jr. was a surrogate? >> he was his son and he speak. >> my concern is you were part of the russian facade and went along with it. i'm sorry, i've known you for years and sorry you'd do that. >> hurts me to hear you say you think i'm part of a facade. i'm not part of a facade. >> attorney general says he's not part of the facade. interestingly calls himself a surrogate for the trump campaign, acknowledged what he previously denied, during the trump campaign he had contacts with russian officials, then insisted that surrogates for the campaign didn't have contacts with russians. that's like saying, i'm a

penguin, i like slurpies, i don't know of any penguins that like slurpies. what? confronted with names of men having russian meetings in the campaign, attorney general shrugged it off. shrugged it off. makes you think he doesn't take seriously the russian government running intel operation against american elections. >> we've heard the intelligence and national security professionals of our country and people who study those issues professionally warn us that campaign and election interference by the russians is not going away, that we can expect more of it in the 2018 election, in the 2020 election. >> i'll be frank, i don't know that we're doing a specific legislative review at this

point. >> you think it would be prudent to do it? we have been warned. >> i think that is a suggestion. >> who me? something, something, protect the next election after russia attacked the last one? i'll take your suggestion. you can tell by the why that senator questions him doesn't seem satisfied with the response he's getting from attorney general and department of justice about whether russia is doing it again. joining us now, senator on the judiciary committee who questioned the attorney general, i appreciate your time. >> my pleasure. >> you were pressuring him about whether or not the department of justice is doing anything to head off future russian interference in elections, did you ask that because you know they're not working on that or was that news? the way he came back to you today. >> i was asking that because i

found no sign of there being any interest in the department of justice in addressing this problem legislatively. which is weird because we have had a great number of very public hearings, with a lot of people including administration officials, making this very plain warning that they're coming at us again. and we've had a lot of testimony about the types of things we could do to close up some of our vulnerabilities and it stands out in that context that the department of justice which presumably would be leaving that kind of effort has nobody assigned to it, no plan and attorney general off top of his head doesn't know if there's anything going on legislatively. seems unusual.

>> also remarkable moment today where attorney general shrugged, didn't believe that any trump surrogates had any contacts with russians in trump campaign. matter of logic because he's confirming he as trump surrogate had contacts and uncontested reporting about number of other people associated with the campaign having those contacts. >> like five. >> a lot of them. and yet he says he doesn't think it happened. what's your take on that? >> hard to figure out what he intended. if he's just confused or wants to shut down the subject with as short answer as he can, whether or not it's truthful. but align that with failure of the department to take any effort to prevent further interference and repeated stonewall of nonassertions of executive privilege, it's

awkward to get factual answers and interest out of the department right now. >> and to that point, one of the issues that i was very interested to see raised today, i didn't expect to hear it until it came up, was the implication that the department of justice has not been forthcoming for the cooperations and various investigations that are into the russian attack. is it true that the justice department has been holding back in terms of requests of information from you, from your committee and other investigators? >> in my opinion, yes. i think they provided a few things. we have innumerable letters, some of them months old, that have gone unanswered. and over and over, you see the attorney general and other administration officials do this nonassertion assertion of executive privilege. there's a distinct pattern that you're supposed to follow with

executive privilege. and it has to end with the president actually asserting it. and they've never asked the president to assert it on anything, and they continue to refuse to answer the questions as if he had or as if they are in the study period they are teeing up their analysis on whether to assert it or not. but months have gone by. it's way pastime for that. over and over again, it's statements that don't seem to add up with what we know the facts to be, or the inability, unwillingness or incapacity to advise congress on how to defend our next elections or this nonassertion assertion of executive privilege, it's a hard screen to penetrate through. and i think that the senate has the right to a lot more answers than we are getting. >> sheldon whitehouse, thank you

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we got tape in the newsroom. just came in. i think we're the first to have access to this. remarks from former cia director john brennan. the first public remarks in several months. he took this question from nbc's andrea mitchell about the 2016 election. watch. >> do you think that the russians could have had

developed the expertise in american politics to have micro targeted areas of wisconsin, michigan and elsewhere? is it your theory of the case that there was some connection between the campaign and the russian operations? >> hard for me to believe that the russians as good as they are, sophisticated as they are, were not able to get some americans to cooperate with them, either wittingly or unwittingly. i find it implausible. >> i find it implausible no americans helped the russians, wittingly or unwittingly. director brennan revealed he's not been asked to testify by special counsel robert mueller but he said he would be happy to do so if asked but again the top line new that is andrea mitchell of nbc news was able to get him to break tonight, cia director during the russian attack on the election says to him it is implausible that the russians were able to do what they did in our election last year without american help.

implausible. we'll be right back. whoooo.

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i tabut with my back paines, i couldn't sleep and get up in time. then i found aleve pm. aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. i'm back. aleve pm for a better am. today, for the first time since his confirmation hearing in january, the attorney general jeff sessions went back before the same committee that he, well, whatted to face for the confirmation, famously he did not tell the truth during that confirmation hearing during acute questioning from in

particular democratic senators. he didn't tell the truth about whether or not he had personally had contacts with russians during the campaign while he was a senior figure in the trump campaign. he said he hadn't had the contacts and he had. the senator who nailed hill on that was minnesota senator al franken and al frank season the guest of lawrence o'donnell on "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." that does it for me. lawrence is about to begin. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. thank you for alerting the audience to that because as you alerted us all to this hearing that was coming this morning, that we all watched and al franken had said on this program once he had the time to digest the attorney general's confirmation testimony that it was perjury. said it was perjury. here we come back today an i know you saw that litany that senator franken read o