hi, everybody. good afternoon. i'm thomas roberts. on the same day family and friends are paying respects to one of the soldiers who was killed in niger, president trump continues to go over congresswoman. the president tweeting i hope the fake news media keeps talking about wacky congresswoman wilson in that she as a representative is killing the democratic party. president trump doesn't have that military experience much like his three predecessors with the exception of gorge w. bush in the national guard. kelly has been his most powerful voice in the military, especially on this week's controversy. >> he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. he knew getting into by joining

that 1%. he knew what the possibilities were because we're at war. and when he died in the four cases we're talking about, the four cases in niger and my son's case in 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. >> mira in florida for us where sergeant la david johnson was laid to rest earlier today. we do begin at the white house. kelly o'donnell is standing by for us. kelly, explain the president with this controversy with congresswoman wilson. a lot of people questioning what he has to gain. >> it's the president's tendency to keep something going. he is sort of now moved congresswoman wilson into a political adversary category,

not treating her like a friend of the family. she said all along sheu has known the family for a long time. she listened to the call that the president made to sergeant la david johnson's family as a friend not as their member of congress. so the president saying now congresswoman wilson, and he's using the wacky term as we have seen him give some negative nickname to others that he views as an adversary the last couple of years of his political life. doing that now with congresswoman wilson this morning, perhaps he had been watching early morning coverage where this issue was still being talked about extensively. the president making it her representation of the democratic party, challenging the president when he was trying to console a family. it has been a back and forth, back and forth really a tense and difficult several days where we have seen issues that normally have been in a very special category, dealing with fallen american soldiers where

people don't mix that in over politics. and yet that has all been wrapped in kind of a nasty change that's gone on all week. the president then spent a few hours at his virginia golf club where we presume he was playing golf today. now there is a lid at the white house meeting. no other news expected. the president also put out a statement as military action as commander in chief about the defeat of isis in raqqa where he puts at some length a description of the u.s. and coalition partners with the syrian democratic forces to take from isis their self proclaimed capital of raqqa. the defeat in that area is a way of trying to destroy a caliphate as isis had it in mind. so the president then asserting his commander in chief role with that statement today at the very same time in conversation, this uncomfortable, awkward conversation has gone on several

days now affecting the family of sergeant johnson. and by extension, the three other americans who died who have not been talked about as much because of this controversy. and then of course the chief of staff john kelly who is a gold star father who became part of a political drama where he has taken the back seat. >> thank you very much. there are a lot of questions. it is escalating pressures on this white house to give information. out of a seemingly routine patrol fall victim to losing four service members? a source briefed on the attack saying this ambush stepped from a massive intelligence failure. joining me now national security and military reporter courtney kube to explain the connection of the dots here, courtney. we just don't have a full picture. there is no insight as to when

we will get this. there were so many days this white house did not speak out on what happened in niger. >> that's right. and, you know, the incident of course is still under investigation. there are several ongoing, one formal is and one more informal. we have not heard many of the details about it. it has been more than two weeks now. in the immediate aftermath of the attack october 4th there was a period of somewhat quiet of information while sergeant johnson was missing. that was because it wasn't clear where he was. candidly, there was some concern he could have been abducted. so once his remains were found on that friday, we did get a little bit more information from u.s. africa command and the u.s. military in general. but we still don't know what happened. we know 12 american soldiers were ambushed by dozens of militants. the latest intelligence still says those militants might have been an affiliate of isis.

it is still under investigation. and exactly how this happened. how was it these americans were doing what the military is still calling routine patrol and so many militants were able to gather and ambush them without their knowing. that is something that members of congress, members of media and the american public really want to know. how was it that was able to happen? is we know there have been a lack of isr, drones and overheard surveillance in africa. general walthauser testified to that several months ago, that he only has 20% to 30% of the overhead intelligence and medevac support that he needs. but still, thomas, as you mentioned, there are more questions that are unanswered that we have about what happened that day. >> courtney kube reporting. now to florida. this is where we have the images coming out today for the funeral of the soldier, laying to rest

sergeant la david johnson. this service wrapping up a short time ago. mira is in cooper city for us. it was family, friends, military members, and even strangers showing up today. >> hundreds upon hundreds of people, thomas, just to come out here for sergeant johnson's funeral which wrapped up just a couple of hours ago. he was from nearby miami gardens. he participated in a mentorship program when he was younger. incident was a program designed to sort of guide young minority men in the area. a lot of people that came out here today remember him from his time in that program. in fact, a lot of the young men that participated in the program were here today wearing these trademark red ties that have happenprin hand prints on them. they were here for sergeant johnson as well. a lot of people, family, friends, also complete strangers who tell us they wanted to express their gratitude to sergeant johnson's family for

sergeant johnson's service in the military. they felt compelled to be here today. here's what one of them had to say. take a listen. >> and i had to be present here today for a time like this. because such a time as today, if i had not shown up my heart would not be at ease at all. and i grieve for the family and the loss of this young man today. >> after the funeral procession left for the cemetery where sergeant johnson will be buried. he is survived by his wife who was pregnant with their third child, along with their other two young children. thomas. >> really striking images. may ya, thank you so much. with me right now, bill white, chairman and ce of the consolations group and military analyst and former comandante. germ, let me begin with you. when it comes to chief of staff

john kelly, a four-star general now working in this administration, he seems to have given the president his own experience to discuss the military and told all of us how he shared his own -- the way general dunford informed him about the loss of his son in 2010. and the president seemed to coop that as a way of being able to speak to the johnson family. does the president have the information and the empathy about the military that he needs to be making these calls, in your opinion? >> in my opinion, i'm just -- i'm really distressed, particularly after seeing that tpaoupb about all funeral about all the talk around the gold star family whether it's general kelly or mrs. johnson. my west point class produced more gold star parents than any

class in west point history. and i just want our viewers to understand whether it comes from the president or general kelly or anyone else, these are very intimate and virtually sacred moments when you go to these funerals and you mourn the death of a soldier who dies in action. and i just wish we spent more time focusing on on sergeant johnson and less time focusing on the politics. like i say, i was in the army for 39 years. i went to too many of these funerals. these are quiet moments, sacred moments where the family can remember their loved one who died too young. and the idea that sergeant johnson's death is surrounded by all of this political energy to me is very distressing. >> to the general's point there, kelly's own admission the other day saying he used to believe when he was coming up about gold star families being sacred, that

that went away at the conventions. and now we have this controversy about gold star families. so much gets forgotten about the fact that they have to keep marching on on one foot in front of the other. and these were really uncertain times for these people. >> thank you very much. and general scales, thank you for your service. it is an honor to be on this program with you. as you know, thomas, you and i have spent a lot of time talking about our nation's fallen heroes. i spent almost three decades working with these families and speaking to well over 300. i spoke to one and a daughter of a fallen marine and asked their opinion. of course there are many opinions out there. i wanted to refocus this as general scales has done. we have to take a moment of silence. we can't do that on this television right now. i hope all americans are thinking of this great four americans and all those who are willing to give their life in service to our country. he has three children.

one about to join this great world of ours, this great country of ours. but i want to say one thing about our president. i have known mr. trump for over three decades. and thomas and general scales, and to the american people, we may not like everything president trump does, but he is a great patriot. he helped me when we had a problem with the veterans day parade to save it. he began the celebrity apprentice on the intrepid where piers morgan raised millions for our nation's families. and he and i have met these families. and he has never shown any appropriate conversation other than love and gratitude for these families. and the fact that on the day that we are talking about this we are burying this amazing soldier is very disturbing to me. i would love to get the congressman and the president together to talk about turning that energy in support of our nation's fallen heroes, in

support of our nation's veterans, in support of them when they come home and when they need our help. that's the thing we should be talking about today, not he said/she said. i will stand up for my president. i am an american. i voted for hillary clinton. but i now feel i'm a trumpacrat. i will say that with love and affection that our president is a good and decent man. and i don't think he mishandled this conversation can. because i know donald trump. and i know we like to do a pylon. but i think it is inappropriate. and i think it is in appropriate that this congresswoman decided to share a sacred moment who the commander in chief sent this young man unfortunately to his passing while serving our country in the green beret that was leaking or listening or feeling that she could turn this into some political circus. and i think that is disgraceful. i just want to tell you that i

think -- >> when it comes to the congresswoman, she's a family friend. this was on speaker phone. >> i don't care. i think it was very disrespectful for her as a member of congress to release the sacred conversation of the commander in chief with a fallen soldier's spouse. and i would say that if she was a republican or democrat. and i asked general scales to join me in this. i think that's the key issue here. none of this would be happening if she didn't do that. none of it. >> the information in terms of what we are supposed to get, not supposed to get, it is really interesting. how are we not supposed to know that a military family was offended or they were in distress about the way they were spoken to, the fact that the wife said that he didn't even remember la david's name. this wasn't really personalized. >> okay. so here we are talking about, thomas -- >> bill, wait.

general kelly gave a story to donald trump, requested that he shouldn't call and major arrized how general dunford suppressed regret over kelly losing his son and the president unfortunately wasn't able to deliver it in a way that maybe general dunford and the communication of general kelly, as old friend in the military, were able to discuss. >> right. i don't think that that was the case. i think that's third and fourth-hand. i put my money on that. because donald trump would not have said anything that would have been offensive to this amazing woman who is burying a tremendous burden. hopefully we will hear from her because she is the only one who can tell us the truth. how do we support our nation's fallen heroes and their families? i know the president cares about this. i know the congresswoman cares about this. you and i and general scales scares about this and everyone

listening to your program cares about our nation's fallen heroes. we are not doing enough to take care of them. and i would love to get the two of them together to talk about how we give more to our nation's veteransis and their families and stop talking about who said what and to who. >> when it comes to gold star families and what bill is saying about this sacred moment between the president and a family, a widow or parent that is receiving this telephone call, they have chose tone accept is the telephone call from the president. not all families will do that. or they're not in a place emotionally to be able to do that. in a sense of honor, a lot of them do. do you think if a family is unsettled by any president and in this interaction, can they make it public? is it a right to -- >> no, no. >> -- make it public and why sit to happen this way? >> no, no. you have to understand what it is like to be a survival officer

and knock on a door and say to a mother and father that their son was killed in combat. and you have to understand that most of the comfort they get isn't from the president or isn't from an officer knocking on their door but from their buddies. it is from those who pledged to live and die for. that's where the comfort comes from. no. i've known very few instances when a gold is star parent has refused to talk to the president. but that's not as important as the -- understanding the enormous emotional shock that a parent has for a child who is, what, 18, 19, 20 years old, dies in the prime of his life. no. i understand the political controversy. bill is 100% right. what we need to focus on is what these young soldiers and marines have done, the sacrifice they made for their country, and most importantly to respect the privacy and dignity of their

parents, particularly after the shock of learning that their young soldier died at such a young age. >> but don't you think it is important not to take apart the congresswoman for revealing the fact that what you're both talking about, respecting this family, understanding that this person gave the ultimate sacrifice, and revealing that the way that they were informed or had a call with our president was done in a way that was impersonal or one size fits all. and that this conversation is one where the president was instructed by general kelly not to make these kills. >> yeah. if i could, thomas, general and thomas, you know i think the world of you. you have been reporting on this story for us and the intrepid fallen hero fund for many, many years. general kelly did not instruct the president to do anything. his advice was not to call because it's a difficult call. and general kelly said himself,

he got no call from president obama. but if he had it would have been a tough call. it's a tough call to prepare for. please hold for the president of the united states. it is very difficult to get yourself together while you're having that call. the fact that he made the call was a personal feeling because he felt he needed to, because he had sent this young man to his ultimate sacrifice. and i think that's admirable that the president called. i wasn't thinking, geez, he must have been calling to screw this up. so i want to give the president a pass and the congresswoman a pass. but i want to see them sit down on this show, any show, and talking about doing more for our nation's veterans. that is the focus of what they both want. i can get some money on that. >> real quick, one of the things that comes across to me looking at the larger issue, what this incident really points out is the widening divide between our nation's military and our

civilian population. >> yes. >> you'll notice that general kelly had one view in his recommended thoughts to the president. and the congresswoman had a completely different interpretation. this is just symptomatic of a much broader problem in our country. 1% of the population is doing the killing and the dying and 99% are watching on television. and i hope our viewers pay attention to this. because there is this civil military divide that seems to be growing every day as we have those who sacrifice and those who watch the sacrifices on television, thomas. >> well, in watching tv and probably you have seen this, we have the press secretary in sarah huckabee sanders saying yesterday if it comes to asking general kelly questions, that we should avoid doing that. i want you to take a listen and get your reaction. >> if you want to get into a debate with a four star marine general, i think that that's

something highly inappropriate. >> so, general, let me ask you. sarah had to clean up her language later, saying she didn't want the integrity and credibility of the general called into question because of the fact that he had discussed a very personal situation and being a gold star dad. but the accountability of the general or anyone in this white house is open for questioning, don't you think? >> well, here's what i think. you know, bill just said we ought to give the congresswoman a bye. we ought to give president trump a bye. and i agree with both of those. but you know what, maybe we ought to give general kelly a bye too. you know, he lost his son. he stood up there in front of that press audience and bared his soul. perhaps he made a mistake. good grief, what does it take in our country today for someone to pat him on the back and said, you know, we're going to let

this one pass, general. let's move on. >> if this general were the first conversation that we had of an issue from this white house, maybe there would not be attention or if the president wasn't tweeting about the wacky congresswoman today. but when it comes to accountabili accountability, are we going to have to continually look the other way because we cannot fend on this administration in contrast to what we have come to as norms in this country, as respecting a gold star family, members of congress and respecting what words mean whether out of your mouth or social media, that words and images have power and they matter. >> i understand that, and i agree with everything you said. we have to hold our politicians accountable. i'm just talking about this moment. >> yes. >> i'm talking about this very, very private moment and the courage that it took for general kelly to bare his soul in front of all of those people.

i know if god forbid that happened to me and my children, i certainly wouldn't be able to do it. and both of my children served in the army. so i clearly understand what he is going through. and i say for this moment, for this one brief moment, let's give the guy a pass. >> the great thing is we should be able to have discourse and arguments in this country but not animosity. thank you very much for your time and service. bill, thank you for your time and all you have dup for vets in this country. >> thank you, thomas. god bullet you and bullet the johnson family. still ahead, president trump going to social media via twitter talking about the release of the jfk documents. they have been kept behind closed door. this tweet does have everybody's attention to learn will these classified files really be made public? we'll talk about it and the triggers that it should take after this.

release of the jfk documents. i love you, couch.

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. so more than 50 years after

john f. kennedy was shot and killed in dallas, we have president trump announcing via twitter he plans to release thousands of classified documents about the assassination to the public. so we got this information earlier today with the president saying subject to the receipt of further information, i will be allowing, as president, the long blocked and classified jfk files to be opened. but some intelligence agencies are asking him to block the release of certain documents in defense of national security. larry, great to have you with me. you replied to the president's tweet and you said, "thank you. this is the correct decision. please do not allow exceptions for any agency of government. jfk files have been hidden for too long." so it was in '92 they decided 25 years ago, whoever the current sitting president was, would have potential access to trigger this. do you really think these documents are going to see the light of day?

>> i think he most of them will. i do have concerns that between now and thursday the cia and other potential agencies will make to the national security counsel to hold back key documents because of "national security concerns". thomas, it's been 54 years since the assassination. the vast majority of these documents are from the 1960s and the 1970s. it just makes no sense to continue to hold this back, feeding conspiracy theories of all sorts. >> when it comes to the conspiracy theories that you mentioned, if they release some of these and not all of them, do you think that that berths more conspiracy theories? a fresh batch of things. >> probably. >> -- to drive this another 25, 50, 75, 100 years? >> listen, if we could go 200

years into the future, assuming we're still here, i guarantee you they will still be debating the kennedy assassination. we are still debating the lincoln assassination. there is no way to end it. but the more people know the more likely they are to form reasonable judgments. the president had a big escape clause in the tweet and then the statement released by the white house. so we will have to wait and see. i have to add one other thing. we don't know for sure these are all the documents related to the kennedy assassination. it is is possible the cia and other groups did not forward everything they had to the review board in the 1990s. so, again, it won't end anything. but it will shed more light on a critical event in american history. >> all right. so just a take on whether you see a bombshell or not coming out of this. is anything new a bombshell, larry? any new nugget of information that could potentially be coming out of this really be eye opening? >> well, if you're expecting a document entitled here's a list

of the co conspirators in the kennedy assassination, no, i don't think we will find that in the hundreds of pages that will be released. but we may find out more details about lee harvey oswald's trip to mexico city seven weeks when he met with people in the cuban 'em's and the soviet embassy. he was there six days. we don't know what he was doing there most of the time. >> larry, great to have you with me. thanks so much. >> thank you. president trump and this new report coming out saying the president would pledge to pay for the legal fees of staffers that have to get legal assistance because of the russia investigation. will he be digging into his own pockets? stay with us. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood,

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the president seems to have his attention focused a bit today on the russian investigation and the 2016 election. so just a short time ago we had some new tweets about crooked hillary clinton. spent hundreds of millions of dollars more on presidential election than i did. facebook was on her side, not fine. that followed husband previous what he called the discredited

dossier and online political ads. there is a major scoop out saying trump pledges to dig into his own pockets to pay legal bills of white house staff and association in the russian investigation. joining me now on our panel. gentlemen, it's great to have you here. richard, let me start with you. the reaction of this, the president saying he is willing to dig into his own pocket, we know it is the rnc paying for don jr.'s associated legal fees. >> well, i think that the big problem is that the white house staff are being investigated because of conduct that is largely attributable to the president in firing james comey and going on national television and firing the russian ambassador, or at least russian

television saying it is because of the russian investigation. so the staff are caught up in this because the president didn't have is the good judgment to just let it alone. if he had let it alone, he could have kept the white house out of it. and this would have been an issue just for the campaign. but the obstruction of justice by the president has dragged in the white house staff. they have to lawyer up. now he is paying the lawyers for them. that of course is a conflict of interest because he is the subject of the investigation. it is a very disturbing situation. i have to say his tweets about hillary clinton, yet more tweets about hillary clinton almost a year after the election. i mean, i think that shows that he is somewhat psychologically imbalanced, if he is constantly talking about his opponent in an election he won last november. his job is to be president, not to be tweeting a tagging a congresswoman. it just goes on and on. and i think we need to do something about this president

if he is not psychologically fit to hold this job. >> eric, when it comes to the "new york times", the paper has been out in front of a lot of stories digging into issues when it comes to the relationship between the trump team as it was operational during the campaign as oppose to the trump administration. but this axios report is talking about the fact that the president does not plan to reimburse the rnc for the lawyers who have had to already bill hours for don jr. and we also know that the president has different members, whether they are michael cohn or other folks that would be potentially involved. the trump administration lawyer michael cohn who we know the senate did not take for testimony last week. they kind of kicked that down the road. how will we know or when will we know how many people have been

in trump's orbit have to get representation. >> typically you're required, if you're going to raise money through donations to have a fund which you create and then you need to disclose who is giving you money to help support your legal fund. you're not allowed to take anonymous donations. if someone else is supporting your legal efforts, you will need most likely to discuss that. and so it's not surprising that the president would feel some obligation to his staff who, as richard said, to some extent he's responsible for getting them into the questions they are now facing to finally support it. but it does raise an interesting question if they're going to be asked to testify or to give depositions in which they are potentially implicating the president and he's helping support their defense, whether or not that does create a conflict of interest. >> well, i was going to say, your ben factor is the person potentially under investigation. so if you incriminate that person, your well runs dry on

your legal financial access. how is that not a conflict of interest? why don't we have any type of safety net that would prevent this from moving forward? we have watergate as a bellwether here. >> there are two ways of looking at this. employers sometimes pay the legal fees of employees. but in the case of a conspiracy, you see this a lot in sort of drug kingpin cases where the boss pays the legal fees of his minions. in those cases courts look very cautiously at the attorney/client privilege and consider the conflict. so there are two ways of looking as it. when companies do pay the legal fees of their employees, which this can be compared to, one of the things that's very interesting is the company wants to dispute the fees or on if president trump is negotiating

down the attorneys fees, if he's not happy with the big legal bill. he can't start looking at the actual fees. it is is sort of in a way a blank check. to what degree is he willing to pay the legal fees and put a cap on it. he always called himself a negotiator. he is someone who would look at these after he makes a promise to pay them. he may not want to pay them if they're too excessive. >> when it comes to the president being handed some fodder here, the fact that he has been tweet building the steel dossier, saying it has been discredited and the fact that they appeared on capitol hill to family members of using gps behind the dossier that michael steele worked on, they took the fifth. they pled the fifth behind closed doors. why would they do that if they stand behind the work of what they collected in the dossier? >> i have no idea. i have no idea what's in that dossier. and i think that is part of a very big troubling picture here.

but for the president to be tweeting about it, how is he helping the situation by tweeting about it all the time? he is repeatedly tweeting and his attacks on the russia investigation, calling it fake, his attacks on the press calling it you fake news over and over again. and this is not helping him in the russia investigation at all. they are investigating him for obstruction of justice. it is indicating that the president is really psychologically eupl poimbalanc he is tweeting for no benefit for himself, for the white house, for the country. he needs to put away the twitter and do his job or step down. >> eric, when it comes to that moment on capitol hill earlier this week behind closed doors

with those members of using gps taking the fifth, that was anticipated? they had -- the lawyer they're working with had said his clients were going to take the fifth. they had to still come there and do it physically anyway, correct? >> i don't know what the legal calculus was behind that decision. it is hard to milwaukake a presn they had done something wrong. that's what we hear when someone takes the fifth. we don't have access to the information that they don't want to talk about and what motivated that choice by their lawyer. just like richard, i don't think i can really speak to it. >> thank you very much, gentlemen. appreciate it very much. yes, we do make grand assumptions when people plead the fifth. but we don't know correct intent behind it. deep, thank you. eric, thank you. sir richard, thank you as well. two presidents taking a page from the same script.

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president trump's two predecessors stepped up to the mike on separate crowds on the same day. different events. both using these platforms to address the current political landscape. take a look and see if you see the similarities. >> it seems the forces pulling us apart with stronger than the forces binding us together. >> if you have to win a campaign by dividing people you're not going to be able to govern them. >> all i can say is it's totally fake news. just fake. it's fake. >> disagreement escalates in the dehumanization. >> we have folks who are deliberately trying to make folks angry. to demonize people who have different ideas. to get the base all riled up because it provides a short-term tactical advantage. >> wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when

somebody disrespects our flag to say get that [ bleep ] off the field. he's fired. >> it is blasphemy against the american creed. >> it doesn't matter if they're white, black, hispanic, asian or native american, whether they're disablinged, whether they are gay or straight, there are people all across this country that want to do things better, that want to work together. >> i think there's blame on both sides. i have no doubt about it. >> we can go on with that forever. i want to bring in political an skphreuft gop strate analyst. tara, they weren't usually on the same page with their messaging. it seemed they were working in unison but independently trying

to inspire people about what it means to be in politics, what it means to be in public service. and that's something that we kind of need right now. we're yearning for right now. >> yeah. i think it's clear that we are yearning for someone to fill the vacuum of common decency and executive in this country because it has been so absent since donald trump stepped on the scene in 2015. i think what you saw here and it's interesting both presidents decided they needed to speak on this issue. president obama was at an election rally. it was still -- the topic was centered around the fact that common decency really knows no partisanship at this point. donald trump has taken things so far below. the bar has been set so low that we can't even have a decent conversation about a gold star family and honoring our fallen soldiers.

that's how low it has become with this. i applaud president bush for speaking out because it's not typical to have one president and two really hit on some themes that i think most people who are watching what's going on in this white house and the tone and tenor of politics today, it's been dragged down to a reality show level. it is the jerry springerization of our politics that is an existential threat to our norms that we need to focus and make sure it doesn't get any worse. >> well, it has been for some people intoxicanting because they are entertained by all of this, david. and there are real repercussions, serious consequences, as tara points out, gold star families. we are, you know, just hours after the ceremony of sergeant johnson's funeral taking place in florida is and we have already kind of moved on to the

next tweet or the next thing. and we have four different families in this family that have been pulled into a controversy that they should never have been pulled into to begin with. have we all gotten drunk on what a trump administration means and do we want to stop taking a drink and we don't know how to get back to looking at a president bush or president obama speak. that seems so foreign. >> first, my condolences to the families, especially the johnson family today. it is not that we have gotten drunk. it is not the jerry springerization of politics. it is donald trump fiction of politics. he has done it with help. this week he had help regrettably from john kelly. and of course sarah huckabee sanders who backed john kelly on his attack on a close, you know, personal friend of the family that lost somebody.

donald trump from the get-go indicated he doesn't care about bringing this country together. he is practicing the politics of anger, bigotry, mysogeny, whatever it he continues to show that, yes, you can be president and have absolutely not an ounce of class. the thing to do this week, really easy, even if you have a congresswoman, you know -- you know, giving you a hard time is to say, let's put it aside. what's most important is what you just said, thomas, it's family members who paid the ultimate sacrifice. focus on them. but donald trump and now unfortunately john kelly can't even reach that point. >> well, it's definitely taken a sideways turn no one would have anticipated. when we look at the latest polling out of marist, 37% of americans approve the job the

president is doing and 55% disapprove. 42% of people believe president trump will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in u.s. history. a lot of great contacts within the republican party, and with president bush coming out and for those on the left and the right to be heralding him as, thank goodness for president bush to show back up and we know tonight all five living presidents will be in texas raising hurricane relief funds, this is a big moment for someone to kind of stake the ground for moral authority and bipartisanship. >> absolutely. i never thought i'd see the day nancy pelosi wished that mitt romney was president or was praising george bush, given the divisive politics and the horrible things that people on the left called george w. bush when he was president, and the horrible and unfounded, in my opinion, unfair attacks against mitt romney's character. my, what a difference a couple

years makes. look -- there's certainly a war within the republican party for the heart and soul of where republicans go, because you have someone like steve bannon personally attacking president bush, who is an honorable man. you can disagree with him, have policy disagreements but no one disagrees that jogeorge bush respected the office of the presidency. donald trump has done nothing but disgrace the office of the presidency, has no respect for what that office represents because he's such a narcissist and makes it all about him all the time, and you question, who are these people that are continuing to enable him? who are these people that are continuing to enable the steve bannon's of the world that want to blow up the party and create a nationalist tribal system in the country that is very dangerous? we have got to hold people accountable and hold donald trump accountable and his enablers if we want to regain that moral high ground.

>> but his enablers are the republican party. i mean, you may say there's a war going on -- >> not completely. >> your side is lost. the polls so 70%, 80% or higher of republicans support donald trump. you have paul ryan and mitch mcconnell doing everything possible to enable him. really, i appreciate that you're criticizing him, but by and large, the republican establishment have rolled over for him and that's the story -- >> created a problem for themselves and it's going to damp the party i think irreparably. difficult to bring this back. where do you stand on a high road when you continue to support trump like this? >> right now they have to own it. back if a moment. n't see nothin. you don't see it, he feels it. you are my hammer out there. don't let these young guys see you fold. ♪ i'm only human, i make mistakes ♪ ♪ i'm only human, that's all it takes ♪ ♪ to put the blame on me

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that does it for us.

thanks for your time. great discussions. keep it going on twitter. good night and stay tuned. "a.m. joy" starts right now. this week the #metoo proliferated on social media and millions shared their stories of surviving sexual assault and harassment amid allegations against disgraced movie mogul harvey weinstein. weinstein denies these claims against him. the me too movement began a decade ago lived as a camper said she was being abused at home. she says at the time "couldn't even bring myself to whisper me too. mow the moveme men