happy friday. thanks so much to you at home for joining us this hour. really happy you're here. i want you to look at this photo. this is remarkable. it is from 1945. it's a group of four american gis in paris all on leave. you can see they are all reading the same paper. the big headline. "hitler dead." i think this would have been on roughly may 2nd, maybe may 1st, 1945. hitler killed himself april 30th, 1945. the news breaking in the paper

that american gis are reading a day or two later. this shows four u.s. gis reading all about it in "stars and stripes." here's another one. this is from not very much later. this is from may 8th, 1945. the day after the successor to a very recently dead adolph hitler signed the unconditional surrender of the nazis in northeastern france. these three u.s. soldiers in this photo are in beckham, germany. you can see the reason they're holding what looks like pots and pans, they are holding their mess kits in one hand and they've got "the nazis quit" front page of "stars and stripes" in the other hand and all three of them are wearing an ear-to-ear grin. here is another shot from three months later. japan surrenders as well. and the headline even larger headline on the front page of "stars and stripes" that day was "peace." we know from the caption on this one that the woman on the left,

her name is johnny dexter. the woman on the right is lucille brennaman. the man in the middle, the gi is robert ingram. peace. japan has surrendered. the war is over. here is another great one. this is 1952. the caption here says, circa 1952. an american soldier reads "the stars and stripes" newspaper while eating possibly a biscuit with jam in the field during a lull in the fighting in korea. you see his mess kit next to him there. ten years after this photo, that's 1952, ten years later of course we have the cuban missile crisis right breaks out in mid october, 1962. the whole world thinks the u.s. and soviet union will have a nuclear war. it ultimately resolves though on october 28th. it resolves peacefully. and this shot is from the day after it resolved. this is from october 29th, 1962. four gis. you can see there. reading "the stars and stripes." you see the headline "will

dismantle bases khrushchov tells u.s.." i think this is an incredible shot as a photographic record. this is a howitzer gun crew in vietnam. august, 1970. those are two american soldiers manning that howitzer. you see them bare chested firing the huge gun. you see the shells for the gun in the right foreground but next to the shells there in foreground center again, it's "the stars and stripes." if you zoom in you can see nixon "no forced south vietnam coalition." stars and stripes. "stars and stripes" is the newspaper by and for american service members. it's been founded sort of three different times. it was founded and then stopped and was founded again and then stopped and was founded again.

the first brief run was 1861 during the civil war. union soldiers fighting under the command of ulysses s. grant took over a printing press that had been abandoned in missouri by a pro confederate owner. they took it over and printed the very first paper that was ever called "the stars and stripes." the union. it must and shall be preserved. 1861. a short run. then it came back in 1918 during world war i general john j. per shalling said he wanted a newspaper written by servicemen for servicemen. there is great stuff about this period of "stars and stripes" online. the library of congress has a bunch of stuff online about the early editions from a century ago from the first world war including you see it says "a message from our chief" on the front with a portrait of pershing. it says -- they've got the initial message that he put on that inaugural edition from world war i. it says in this initial number of the "stars and stripes" published by the men of the

overseas command the commander-in-chief of the american expeditionary forces extends his greet to the readers. these readers are mainly the men honored by being the first contingent of americans to fight on european soil for the honor of their country. the paper written by the men in the service should speak the thoughts of the new american army. and the american people from whom the army has been drawn. it is your paper. good luck to it. signed john j. pershing commander-in-chief of the american expeditionary force. that is the newspaper "the stars and stripes" that president donald trump has been trying his best to kill. "stars and stripes" had those initial starts in the civil war and then it ran in 1918, world war i, but then they started it back up in 1942 for the far flung american soldiers fighting world war ii. and it has continued in print

ever since. by service members and for service members with support from the defense department going back to the initial well wishes from general pershing before we even had something called the defense department. "stars and stripes" is editorially independent. it is occasionally ill tempered and i mean that in the best possible way. it is pushy. it takes the gi's side against the brass almost always which sometimes annoys the brass. "stars and stripes" has birthed the careers of some great american journalists, particularly some great american political cartoonists. it is an american institution, american military institution, and an institution that means a lot to the power and practice of the first amendment in this country. and to the idea of an army, military that comes from the american people and enjoys the rights that military fights to defend. and did i mention that it's got editorial independence? and so perhaps that's the rub.

perhaps that's the problem. but the trump administration has been trying to kill it. they have been trying to zero out funding for it during president trump's first term. congress is happy to keep funding it. actually bipartisan members of congress are happy to keep funding it. the democratic controlled house actually restored funding for it. recently they said they wanted to keep funding it. but the trump administration has nevertheless been hell bent on killing it. news emerged this week that they not only are planning to kill "the stars and stripes" they were in the process of doing so this month. a memorandum from the trump administration just made public that tells "stars and stripes" they needed to submit their plan, quote, for the dissolving of the "stars and stripes" by a week from tuesday by september 15th. included in that plan had to be their plans for vacating any and all of their office space anywhere in the world. they were ordered to have the "stars and stripes" as an organization completely

dissolved by january. and their last edition to be published at the end of this month, september 30th, 2020. orders from the trump administration. the ombudsman for "the stars and stripes" told the a.p. today the trump administration plans to kill "stars and stripes" would be, quote, fatal interference and permanent censorship of a unique first amendment organization that has served u.s. troops reliably for generations. yeah. to say the least. but president trump for whatever reason has been hell bent on killing it off. he has been working on it all this year. but today, less than two weeks out from that mandated kill date, he finally relented and said, oh, no. i'm going to make sure that "stars and stripes" stays in business. and the president apparently finally relented on this because honestly they are just drowning in this mire now. they can't let this keep getting

worse. this last 24 hours has been the biggest political crisis for them since the start of the covid pandemic? i mean, maybe the biggest political crisis for the president since before then. i very rarely show clips from the fox news channel. here is part of our own news coverage but this is some important news from the fox news channel today. >> the atlantic magazine claiming president trump called america's fallen service members suckers and losers, the president denying that report vehemently, top pentagon officials are weighing in. national security correspondent jennifer griffin has more on that. jennifer? >> reporter: john, i've spoken with two senior u.s. officials who were on the trip to france who confirmed to me key details in "the atlantic" article and the quotes attributed to the president. my source, a former trump administration official, told me when the president spoke about the vietnam war he said it was a stupid war. anyone who went was a sucker.

the president would say about american veterans, what's in it for them? they don't make any money. the source said, it was a character flaw of the president. he could not understand why someone who die for their country, not worth it. when asked if the president could have driven to the cemetery, this former official said confidently that there was not a security reason to not drive to the cemetery which was about 40 miles from paris. quote, the president drives a lot. the other world leaders drove to the cemetery. he just didn't want to go. regarding the president's july 4th military parade planning, during a planning session at the white house after seeing the bastille day parade in 2017 president trump said, regarding the inclusion of wounded guys, quote, that's not a good look. americans don't like that. >> that's not a good look. americans don't like that. to be clear, this is the fox news channel's national security correspondent confirming the

worst of this new reporting over the past 24 hours about the president's repeated denigration and scorn for americans who serve in our military. and specifically the allegation that he has expressed disgust and revulsion for wounded veterans and that he doesn't like to see them and he doesn't want them seen in public. quote, that's not a good look. he is reported to have said. jeffrey goldberg was the reporter at "the atlantic" magazine who first published these comments from the president last night in a piece that cited multiple sources directly familiar with the president's remarks. the white house initially seems to have thought they could brush this off with their usual bluster saying it is all lies it's all lies. but within less than two hours of the atlantic publishing the piece, a.p. investigative reporter and u.s. marine corps veteran james laporte was able to confirm for the associated press the entirety of "the atlantic" story and as he told us last night was able to confirm that with senior d.o.d. sources from the u.s. marine

corps. beyond the conversation from the associated press by late last night "the washington post" has also confirmed the main points of the story and then lauter yet the "new york times" today confirmed the main points of the story. each of those entities adding their own further detail to this very granular reporting. again with multiple sources. so what the white house woke up to today, along with its newly public plans to kill off the historic century old gis' newspaper in this country for no reason was reporting confirmed by multiple sources that the president has repeatedly called american service members who have been killed and captured losers and suckers. that the president has asked his staff to not include wouned veterans in military parades and events because he doesn't like to see people with injuries or amputations and he thinks other americans don't either. that when he canceled a world war i centennial visit to an american veterans cemetery in

france the president reportedly told advisers why should i go to that cemetery? it's filled with losers. in a separate conversation in the same trip the president said that the 1800 u.s. marines who lost their lives at bellawood were suckers because they got killed at belieau wood fighting for their country. the white house woke up to this news that the president has now reported and confirmed by multiple sources to derided not only john mccain and his service as a president of war but also former president george h.w. bush calling him a loser for having been shot down in combat in world war ii. the president and the white house contending with news today confirmed from multiple sources that on memorial day, 2017, his first year in office, he stood at the grave of the son of john kelly who was killed in combat in afghanistan at age 29. the president said to him at the grave site, quote, i don't get it. what was in it for them? and that, that particular anecdote about president trump insulting general kelly's dead

son at his grave on memorial day, that reporting first advanced by "the atlantic" last night has now specifically been confirmed by both the associated press and "the washington post." the post also adding that the president, quote, frequently made disparaging comments about veterans and soldiers who were missing action, referring to them at times as losers. the post reporting that the president, quote, told advisers he didn't understand why the u.s. government placed such value on finding soldiers who were missing action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got. "the times" adding confirmation from multiple sources that the president, quote, long scorned those who served in vietnam as being too dumb to have gotten out of it. and now of course tonight there is fox news, itself, adding the detail, the quote, that the president specifically said he did not want, quote, wounded guys in any military parade because, quote, that's not a good look.

americans don't like that. i don't know who is going to contest it if i just assert right here that that is not generally true about americans. but it is apparently true about the president. he finds u.s. service members to be stupid for serving, losers, suckers, they deserve what they get. they don't deserve to be thought of as heroes. they don't even deserve to be looked for when they've been captured. he doesn't want to be around them especially if they shed blood for this country. he finds them and their injuries disgusting. he doesn't want to see it. since this story broke last night, i still can't believe this is real and i'm not asleep and screaming in my sleep in some nightmare. since this broke open last night, the president and the white house have been furiously denying the initial report and all the confirming reporting, all of it. this is a legitimate political

crisis for them. the fact that it is a political crisis for them may have saved "the stars and stripes" newspaper today. the president tweeted out that he is not going to kill it now. he is going to make sure that it stays in business. right? trying to find some way, any way to try to make the president seem like he's not really like the way he actually is. but the problem for them here, the reason this is a political crisis that won't blow over like everything does for him, is that this one doesn't come out of nowhere. this stuff as disgusting and raw as it is, it does, admit it, you know it, it fits with what we know of him and what we've seen of him. >> a war hero. >> five and a half years. >> he is a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured. >> the president's attacks on john mccain are well remembered. as are his attacks on the goldstar family who lost their son in iraq.

there's also the other ones that we've -- we noticed at the time and let pass, right? his attacks not just on lieutenant colonel alexander vindman from the national security council for his testimony in the impeachment inquiry but specifically the president's attack on colonel vindman for his military service. the president mocking his army uniform. the president putting that wounded combat veteran's army rank in scare quotes in his tweets as if colonel vindman wasn't really a lieutenant colonel in the army. there was also the time the president derided the former head, the admiral, deriding him specifically for the attack that he led that killed osama bin laden. there has also just been the rank callousness to the family members of service members who the president had no political reason to attack. no beef with. no reason to criticize. he just couldn't muster the decency to even interact with them in a kind or basically

human way. >> i asked the master sergeant to put his phone on speaker so my aunt and uncle could hear as well. and he goes on to saying his statement as, what he said was -- >> the president. >> yes, the president said that he knew what he signed up for. but it hurts anyway. and i was -- it made me cry, because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. that is what hurt me the most because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? and that is what made me upset and cry even more, because my husband was an awesome soldier. >> what did you say to the

president? >> i didn't say anything. i just listened. >> but you were upset when you got off the phone. >> oh, very upset and hurt. very. it made me cry even worse. >> the widow of sergeant la david johnson who was killed in late 2017. you might remember the president has also publicly derided the very idea, the very significance of what has emerged as the signature wound of the post 9/11 wars, which is traumatic brain injury. >> initially you said repeatedly to americans that after iran retaliated for the soleimani strike no americans were injured. we now know at least 11 u.s. servicemen were air lifted from iraq. can you explain the discrepancy? >> no. i heard that they had headaches. and a couple of other things. but i would say, and i can

report it is not very serious. not very serious. >> you don't think a potential serious brain injury is serious? >> you'd have to ask the department of defense. no i don't consider them very serious injuries. >> this is how the president has talked about the u.s. military and service members, even those killed action and those wounded action since he has been president. the veterans of foreign wars asked for the president to apologize after he derided traumatic brain injury as headaches and something that is not very serious. the president never apologized. and so we've seen that from him and maybe some of those things have registered in the news for a while and some have registered for a second and slid by. but because we have seen that in him, now it sticks. that we have these reports of him calling u.s. service members losers, and suckers, and him being repulsed by the sight of

them. right? it fits with what we have seen. it's also causing unimaginable pain for some of our fellow americans who have had way too much pain already. >> my step son was not a loser. >> my son is not a loser. >> my son matthew is not a loser. >> my step son was not a sucker. >> lance corporal alexander scott arredonda died in naja, iraq in 2004. >> my son sergeant james anthony ayure ii gave his life in kandahar, afghanistan in 2010. [ speaking in spanish ] >> honorably serving his country. >> that is something donald trump will never know. >> that is something that donald trump will never understand. >> my message to donald trump is this. you have no right being a commander-in-chief. [ speaking in spanish ] >> ladies and gentlemen, my name is paul eaton. i'm a retired major general,

united states army, and i just read jeff goldberg's article in "the atlantic." i am pretty unhappy with you, mr. trump, so i'm going to keep this short for your famous short attention span. you have shown disrespect to the military on countless occasions. i am stunned that anybody in the united states military would consider you anything but a loser or a sucker. you're no patriot. let me tell you about a patriot. my father was killed in vietnam. he was shot down over a ho chi minh trail section just outside of vietnam in laos. he delivered ordnance to cut the trail and cut supplies. and then he delivered close air support to special forces troops on the ground. and his airplane blew up. he went down in 1969. 13 january, 1969. this dog tag was recovered at

the crash site. my father was a patriot. well educated. he was a wise man. the best men and women in the united states of america are found in the armed forces of the united states military. mr. trump, come 3 november, we're all voting for a real patriot, joe biden. and everybody who hears this, please take notice and, please, vote. vote democratic. our country's honor depends on it. thank you. >> quite frankly, if what is written in "the atlantic" is true, it's disgusting. it affirms what most of us believed to be true, that donald trump is not fit to do the job of president, to be the commander-in-chief. the president reportedly said, and i emphasize reportedly said, that those who sign up to serve

instead of doing something more lucrative are suckers. let me be real clear. when my son was an assistant u.s. attorney and he volunteered to go to kosovo while the war was going on, as a civilian, he wasn't a sucker. when my son volunteered and joined the united states military as the attorney general and went to iraq for a year, won the bronze star and other commendations, he wasn't a sucker. the servicemen and women he served with, particularly those who did not come home, were not losers. if these statements are true, the president should humbly apologize to every goldstar mother and father and every blue star family that he's denigrated and insulted. who the heck does he think he is?

if i have the honor of being the next commander-in-chief, i will ensure that our american heroes know i'll have their backs, honor their sacrifice, and those who have been injured will be in military parades. and always caution not to lose my temper. this may be as close as i've come in this campaign. just a marker of how deeply president trump and i disagree about the role of the president of the united states of america. >> this is a real political crisis for the white house and for president trump tonight. it is also sort of a reckoning for the country in terms of the extremes of trumpism. we'll have much more on this

coming up tonight, including with general paul eaton who is going to join us live. stay with us. stay with us i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on.

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he used to worry about how to fix the world's oral health problems. - i think i've got it. - [narrator] then he invented therabreath formulas. - you want fresh breath? i'll give you a fresh breath. - [narrator] for fresh breath, healthy gums, dry mouth, and healthy smiles. - whoa, that's fresh. - [narrator] now, the world's mouths have never been healthier. (sighs contentedly) - works for 24 hours, i guarantee it. therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. - [narrator] available at walmart, target and other fine stores. in august, 2012, california congresswoman anna heeschew introduced a bill to facilitate the united states postal service located in mountain view,

california as the lieutenant ballard memorial post office. the bill passed and was signed into law by president obama in 2013 so now when residents of lovely mountain view, california go to mail a card or a payment or a ballot it goes through the lieutenant kenneth m. ballard memorial post office. lieutenant ballard led an army platoon in iraq in 2003 and 2004 on the night of may 30th, 2004 he was killed in iraq. he was just over a week from leaving iraq and just shy of turning 27. his mother got the call just before 9:00 a.m. the next morning with the news that her only child wouldn't be coming home. lieutenant kenneth ballard was awarded a purple heart and three bronze stars, two with valor for his heroism. his mother has set up a website to keep the memory of her son and his sacrifice alive. and there is the post office in their town. the current president calls americans who have died for their country losers and suckers. however broadly he might mean

that, for some individual americans like the family of lieutenant kenneth ballard, it lands differently. which is why his mother chose to respond directly in an ad released today by vote vets. >> my son is not a loser. my message to donald trump is this. you have no right being commander-in-chief. >> joining us live is gold star mother karen meredith the mother of kenneth ballard. thank you so much for joining us this evening. i know it is a really difficult time. >> it is. good evening, rachel. >> when you first heard these reports, a little bit more than 24 hours ago now about what the president has said about american troops and specifically about troops hurt or killed in battle, what was your reaction? how did that land with you? >> well, i wasn't surprised, because this does seem to be a pattern going back to even

before trump announced running for president. but it is always kind of a pin prick to the heart. just trying to pull the scab off. for me after 16 years you'd think i'd be used to it but those are pretty harsh words coming from my son's commander-in-chief that he was a sucker and/or a loser and i don't feel that way. and none of the parents who did the video feel that way. >> karen, can i ask you how the video came together? there's been some sort of conspiracy theorizing on the right and with the trump campaign today saying there must have been collusion. there must have been advanced planning with you and other gold star families because that ad was turned around and put out so quickly that you must have known in advance "the atlantic" was going to publish these allegations. can you speak to that at all?

>> sure. yesterday afternoon i think it was right after the story was published, i was notified by vote vets that this story was going to be pretty big and so they asked if i could gather our group of gold star families that i work with. i've been working with the vote vets for about five years, so we're all on stand by ready to support the organization. we're all progressive and support veterans' organizations. some of us worked on it all night last night. that's why we were able to get it out as quickly as we did. so there was no collusion. >> karen, i know that you have

been twoiwilling to speak publi about your son's death and the iraq war and you have been public in your grief and your feelings about the cause for which he lost his life for a long time now, which means you have been willing to talk about your son in this grief through different presidencies. i just wonder if you and working with other gold star families, if it is a different calculation, if it is a different sort of balance of risk and potential benefit that the president really has shown no compunction about attacking gold star parents, the family members of people who died in service to this country and even attacking those who have died or been wounded themselves. does it change the way about how you and your fellow gold star families think about you whether it is safe to speak out? >> well, as you mentioned earlier, ken was my only child. so i've already had the worst day of my life. nothing else, nobody else can

say anything is as bad as what happened on may 30th, 2004. i know a lot of the other gold star families that i work with feel the same way. not all gold star families work with vote vets so i am not speaking for all gold star families, just for some. but this presidency is different because he doesn't seem to have a concept of service. for instance the bush family, i am not a fan, but at least their family served in politics and they served in the military. and in the obama administration he has been serving as a starting out as a community organizer, so he knows what serving means. and sacrificing because the military can get more pay on the

outside and being in government service generally you can get paid, too. i think that is the biggest difference that they -- this administration -- i am not sure who in this administration really understands what service and sacrifice means. >> gold star mother karen meredith joining us live tonight from california. thank you so much for talking to us. i know you have the choice whether or not to do this but it means a lot to our viewers that you are willing to be here. thank you so much. >> i appreciate the opportunity. >> all right. from 2003 to 2004 while karen's son was serving in iraq, major general paul eaton served as the commanding general of the coalition military assistance training team which means he was in charge of training iraqi troops during the iraq war. general eaton followed his father into u.s. military service. today we just showed you moments ago in a video directly

addressing the president the now retired major general eaton held up his father's i.d. tag which is recovered from the site where his plane went down in the vietnam war. joining us now is retired major general paul eaton. general, sir, thank you so much for joining us. it is a real honor to have you with us here tonight. >> rachel, my privilege. thank you very much for the invitation. i'd just like to say to everybody that karen meredith is a personal hero to me and to my wife, p.j. she is a brave, wonderful woman. and i thank her for coming on tonight as well. >> thank you for saying that. let me start by asking the same question that i asked her, which is, when you read or learned of the president's remarks that were first published a little bit more than 24 hours ago now, how did it land with you? >> rachel, it took me a couple of minutes to read the article. it took me a nanosecond to be truly angry. i shaved. i got in front of the camera.

knocked out a two-minute -- two-minute, 15-second piece to get out on twitter. and just to make known, just how awful the level of disrespect in thought, word, and deed that we get out of this president and how it detracts from his capacity to serve as a leader anywhere but certainly as a commander-in-chief. he has no right to be there. >> general eaton, i wanted to ask you specifically about that moment where you held up your father's i.d. tag and talked about your father being killed in the vietnam war. i just wondered, now that we have learned more, there's been supporting reporting both put in "the atlantic" but also adding to it. one of the things reported in "the washington post" is i'll quote from "the post" here the president has told senior advisers he didn't understand why the u.s. government placed such value on finding soldiers

missing action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got. i have to ask your reaction to that. given your connection with your father and his service and how he was lost in combat. >> rachel, we have an ethos in the u.s. military. one of the reasons that the american soldier, marine airman, sailor, guardsman will do amazing things is because they trust the chain of command to bring them back. that the chain of command will give the bullets and the food and the leadership they need in order to prosecute the mission. so this dog tag, this dog tag was found by a member of the joint task force full accounting team. the team that goes to former war zones and brings back the remains of our fallen.

you can see it is mangled. what happens to a dog tag in an explosion when the aircraft goes down. our country, this great country, goes to great lengths to bring back our fallen. and again, the reason the american soldier does so well is he trusts the chain of command to do just that. unfortunately, after what we've heard about this particular president, that is a hard sell to every drill sergeant trying to soldierize, trying to build a soldier out of every young man and woman who comes through our doors. >> retired major general paul eaton, sir, it is a real honor to have you with us tonight. i know, again, you have the choice whether to speak publicly on matters like this and this was a big one. thank you for helping us understand and thank you for your service, sir. >> thank you for what you do, rachel. >> kind of you to say.

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yesterday we got word of another specific attempt by russia to interfere in the 2020 presidential eelection. russia is amplifying claims of mail-in voter fraud intel warns. this four-page intelligence bulletin was sent to state and federal law enforcement by the intelligence branch of the department of homeland security. quote russian state media and proxy websites are denigrating vote by mail processes in the u.s. alleging they lack transparency and procedural oversight. we assess that russia is likely to continue amplifying criticisms of vote by mail and shifting voting processes amidst the covid-19 pandemic to undermine public trust in the electoral process.

that warning from homeland security about what russia is doing. of course that message that russia is sending, which homeland security says is explicitly designed to undermine americans' faith in our own electoral process, weirdly that happens to be the exact same message our own president has been promoting about our voting processes. which is weird, right? the exact same thing that they're saying russia is promoting. so strange. that report about russia denigrating mail-in voting trying to cast doubts among americans about mail-in voting came just one day after abc news was also first to report that the trump administration had kiboshed a similar homeland security intelligence report which warned law enforcement of persistent russian efforts to spread rumors about joe biden's unfitness for office specifically his mental fitness for office. and let's be clear, again, that is the exact same message our president has been spreading and continues to promote on a daily basis while russian state

propaganda does exactly the same thing. now, at the same time, this odd, coincidental lock step is happening between the white house and the kremlin, between the president and the russian state media. the president has said virtually nothing about other stuff about russia. for example the continuing pro democracy protests in the streets of belarus and russian efforts to prop up the belarusian dictator and undermine the protesters. until today trump had not said a word about the poisoning of the russian opposition figure alexei novalny. today nato, which president trump likes to denigrate at every turn, said it agreed with germany's conclusion there is proof beyond doubt that alexei navalny was poisoned with a military grade nerve agent which

cast no doubt on who might have poisoned him. president trump said this. quote, we haven't had any proof though. he said, it might well, very well be the case but we haven't had any proof. he then went on to scold reporters for always bringing up russia when they should be talking about china instead. he also told reporters, quote, i do get along with president putin. to be clear he was asked about president putin allegedly poisoning one of his opposition figures. i do get along with him. don't you think china's much worse? that's where we are now. the president is actively in this campaign spreading lies that his own intelligence agencies say are russian propaganda while he is casting doubt on the conclusions of the nato alliance we used to lead. more ahead on this. stay with us. ake. the largest 5g network... award-winning customer satisfaction...

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emergency meeting, assassination against navalny today, president trump was asked for his reaction. >> we do not have any proof yet. i will take a look. it is interesting how everybody mentions russia. probably at this point is china or asia, as they say china is doing far worse. >> nobody tries to assassinate the neighbor of russia. thank you very much for joining us. i appreciate it. >> good morning, rachel. >> the president says there is no proof that navalny was

poisoned from the nerve-agent. i expect the kremlin must be very pleased by the president saying that today. >> well, it it resembles what the kremlin had been saying which the doctor and toxicology did not find any evidence of poison. and if you look at what is being said and they're increasing lines on russian tv, there is no sign of poisoning when he was moved to germany. the germans may somehow poison them to make russia look bad. >> so we saw this tonight, what appears to be a fake recording released by russian authorities. it appears to be a recording of

germany admitting they fake navalny's poisoning. is that something being greeted and ridiculed in russia as it is around the world. it seems quite cartoonish. >> this is the most ridiculous one i have ever seen and it is completely absurd and russia propaganda. this is the kind of pay back for this. they're left with lukeshenko, the russian prime minister is as smart guy and knows the west very well is not necessary if somebody believes lukeshenko

talking gibberish and trying not to react. this is the event they dug themselves when your credibility is this shock and there is nothing left to do to try to really swallow completely. completely absurd, things like that. >> yeah, you can shoot the moon when it comes to talking to anybody and you think nobody is going to assess tof what you ar trying to sell. max, thank you for being up at a crazy time of the day. >> thank you for having me. >> that's going to do it tonight. have a great, great labor day weekend. great, great labor day weekend. - [narrator] did you just reward yourself

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we are eight weeks away from the presidential election. this week we see the clearest contrast between the two nominees. reportedly thinks members of the united states