chairman mccain: thank you. general dunford. gen. dunford: general mccain, thank you for the opportunity to join secretary mattis in providing an update on the south asia strategy. in recent months our commander in afghanistan described the current condition as a stalemate. secretary mattis testified we are not winning in members of this committee made similar statements. situation is developed since the nato mission in afghanistan transitioned to an advisory effort. since january 2015 we have advised and i companied units at -- we have advised and accompanied units at the tactical level. but advisory effort for conventional forces has been limited to the afghan core and institutional level. we reduced the aviation, artillery and support provided. this didn't provide afghan conventional forces with the support they needed to succeed limited to the afghan core and institutional level. we reduced the aviation, in combat operations. my military assessment is we drew down our advisory effort and combat sport for afghan forces too far and

on behalf of chairman mccain. >> thank you, chairman. and thank you for the testimony. i want to thank towhat a number of my colleagues have mentioned, i think it gives the american people a lot of comfort to see the two of you leading our military and department of defense efforts, and i just want to applaud you for all you're doing. and the focus you're giving to some of these really important national security issues. and what are clearly challenging times. one area where i don't think you've gotten enough, you know, compliments for what you've done is the isis strategy. came in, new strategy. syria strategy. started to implement it. and we're not there yet, but it's -- i think it's clearly working. it's clearly reversing what had been a losing battle and maybe i can ask you to just initially comment on that because i think the american people aren't fully aware that they are completely on the defensive now, in my view in large measure to your leadership, your strategy, and of course to the troops who are executing that. secretary mattis, care to comment on that? >>

chairman. >> on behalf of senator mccain, senator warren, please. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general dunford, good to see you here. i want to ask you about the nuclear deal between the united states, the five-partner nations and iran that has placed iran's nuclear program under verifiable limits and unprecedented inspections, so that it cannot develop a nuclear weapon. the trump administration has already certified twice to congress that iran is complying with this arrangement. if president trump does not certify again by october 15th, he risks blowing up this agreement and iran may restart again, building a nuclear weapon. now, when asked about the iran nuclear deal in january, secretary mattis told this committee that it is, quote, an imperfect arms control agreement. but he also said, quote, when america gives her word, we have to live up to it and work with our allies. general, do you agree with that? >> senator, i do. and my recommendation the previous two times was informed by that and the fact that the intelligence community had determined there was not a material brea

do we have americans fighting and dying i think those are the real questions there and i hope chairman mccain the armed services committee delve into that not just who who messed up here. and what is your analysis why are we in their will you know in a way some people especially on the democratic side are sort of what this is going to be trumps benghazi well maybe there's elements of that because remember the the enemy here it is share is al qaeda in the islamic magreb this is the same group that the french had come in in two thousand and twelve against and in mali and all leads back to the boneheaded decision to overthrow gadhafi and which is just a huge shot of adrenaline a big pile of weapons to go all of these terrorist groups that destabilized now the whole region including the share so let's look at the big picture here not just what happened here a few days ago that tragically resulted in these deaths while the mainstream media has got a lot of americans ginned up about the fact that the white house is not forthcoming you heard what john mccain said and secretary battus said today that

do we have americans fighting and dying i think those are the real questions there and i hope chairman mccain the armed services committee delve into that not just who who messed up here. and what is your analysis why are we in their will you know in a way some people especially on the democratic side are sort of what this is going to be trumps bengazi well maybe there's an element of that because remember the the enemy here it is share is al qaeda in the islamic magreb this is the same group that the french had come in in two thousand and twelve against and in mali and all leads back to the boneheaded decision to overthrow gadhafi and which is just a huge shot of adrenaline a big pile of weapons to go all of these terrorist groups that destabilized now the whole region including the share so let's look at the big picture here not just what happened here a few days ago that tragically resulted in these deaths while the mainstream media has got a lot of americans ginned up about the fact that the white house is not forthcoming you heard what john mccain said and secretary battus said today tha

that little friction is going to go away, chairman mccain and secretary mattis are both pros. e secreta is gointo tell the chairman every thing he knows. the larger issue is why were those forces so exposed? is there anything we could have done? 's we want to say those american lives. i wanted to make a point with the audience before we let you go, the friction you are talking about in recent days, senator mccain said he had a better relationship with former officials of the obama administration than he does with the current national security advisor and defense secretary. what you guys are talking about today and what this meeting will be about later this afternoon no doubt will touch on the relationship building that has two go into place going forward. general jack keane, we appreciate your time in speaking with us before you go talk with senator mccain ahead of his meeting with the defense secretary, thank you, sir. an emotional defense of president trump called to a gold star widow from a man who knows what it's like to lose a child to war. john kelly's review to one democ

>> after senator mccain, the leader, the current chairman of your committee, threatened to subpoena theentagon, suddenly secretary mattis got his tail over to capitol hill, privately seemed to brief both mccain and grar graham. did you get a briefing? >> no, i did not. i spoke to secretary mattis on the phone thursday evening and friday i was in providence, rhode island and glad he got over there. as you know, the secretary left the following day for his asia tour. >> what do you feel -- was this -- let me ask you this. both lindsey graham and chuck schumer didn't know there were 1,000 troops in niger. was that knowable by a member of congress? did you know this? >> i did not know the exact number. one of the reasons we're having the classified briefing tomorrow is not only to look closely at what happened in niger but also to get the laydown of special operations forces in africon and other parts of the world. frankly, most of our intention has been directed without surprise to the iraq theater, syria and to afghanistan and other places. and recently most particularly north korea. but

i think chairman mccain for holding the steering effort cosponsored my legislation that is the banking committee jurisdiction, the disclosure act which are federal securities laws tries to encourage companies to focus on avoiding cybersecurity risk before they turn into costly breaches. thank you, mr. chairman. >> welcome witnesses. mr. rapuano, please proceed. >> thank you, chairman mccain, ranking member reed and members of the committee. it is an honor to appear before you to discuss the roles and responsibilities the department of defense and its interagency partners in defending the nation from cyber attacks of the significant consequence. i hear today in my role as the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security as well as the principal cyber advisor to the secretary of defense, in which i oversee cyber policy in the department, lead the coordination of cyber efforts across the department and whether interagency partners, and integrate the departments cyber capabilities with its mission assurance and defense support to civil authorities activities. i a

i want to associate my remarks with chairman mccain in terms of the strategy. we know from donald trump that he has an unspecified increase of 3 more troops but most of come from remarks and statements by the afghan president, i am concerned american people cannot make good decisions about this conflict when they are not told -- the servicemembers we are sending. do i have your commitment about the number of troops standing over and what their missions will be? >> know, if it involves telling the enemy something that will help them. in any terms of honesty with this committee in private at any time, in closed hearings, we will get specific to as you wish, no reservations at all. talking with the american people we will tell we are adding troops, give approximate numbers, we are not hiding this, i would rather not say specific capabilities or numbers on the battlefield, going out of confidentiality. >> i didn't ask those details, i asked about troop numbers and our mission. >> we will keep this can be fully informed as we have in closed hearings right down to sp

. >> secretary mattis is headed back to capitol hill to talk with senator john mccain, the chairman of the senate armed services committee. senator mccain complained that the white house was not forthcoming with details on the ambush. here with us right now are our military diplomatic analyst john kirby, spokesman for the pentagon and state department. john, secretary mattis is making a point there that no one was left behind. it's been a key question from this incident. what else are you hearing from the pentagon? >> i'm hearing the same thing, wolf, from pentagon sources about how strongly they're pushing back on this idea that sergeant johnson was left behind or abandoned in any way. now, they're not giving a lot of detail because they're citing an investigation that's ongoing to try to get to the root of what happened here in this ambush. but yesterday director of the joint staff did go up to the podium at the pentagon briefing and also pushed back on this notion that sergeant johnson was left behind. take a listen. >> from the moment of contact no one was left behind, either u.s.,

that's what i heard from senator graham as well as chairman mccain. more information on this specific mission in niger but also a broader, more expansive conversation about what the authorities are going to be, especially since president trump has delegated a lot more authority down to the ground commander level. >> and, kevin, the folks like lindsey graham and john mccain are typically, ideologically supportive. dod having these kinds of authorities. they just want to maintain their congressional oversight role. >> yeah, so let's separate those out. and it's important because what senator graham said today is new. the rules of engagement have not changed since trump came into office. that's different than lowering authorities to different levels so that commanders in the field can call in an air strike without having to call the white house to put it bluntly. the idea of an actual change of engage; lindsey graham was right to make a point of that. that sets up a whole new argument and something congress will have to go through and it does play to the

krebs. >> chairman mccain, ranking member reed, members of the committee, thanks for the opportunity to appear before you today. in my current role performs the duties of their dissector for the national protection and programs directorate i lead the department of homeland seekers efforts to secure and defend our federal networks and facilities, and the systemic risk to critical for such an approved cyber and physical security practices across our nation. this is a time hearing as during december, october we recognize national cybersecurity awareness month, find a focus on how cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and ethics of the business, organization in america and is one of the most significant and strategic risks to the united states. to address this week as and if we work together to develop a much needed policies authorities and capabilities across the interagency with state international partners in coordination with the private sector. department of defense is eligible receiver exercise in 1997 laid bare our nation cybersecurity vulnerability and consequences initiating

both operating on twitter, that was clear by the intelligence committee in january in effect chairman mccain held the first hearing in which that came forward. that strategy is not unique. the united states, they didn't seem to be as active in the german elections and i don't know why but we can't accept that. that's under basic democratic concepts and we can't accept that. terms of oakley are doing on the committee the intelligence committee and dice it ex-officio which is the term for being the last question. they are pursuing this but it's very difficult to cause we don't have the same kind of access as a law enforcement official and we are looking at a policy perspective as well as individual culpability. so we are making progress and i must say senator warner is doing a very good job but it's slow and tedious and i don't think it's going to reach a public conclusion for a while yet. course we realize director mueller is doing a totally separate investigation. >> do you think the investigation won't be wrapped up by the end of the year? >> i think it will go into next year because there

. >> chairman mccain, ranking member reed, members of the committee. in my current role as undersecretary for the national programs directerate, i lead the home lpd security's efforts to manage systemic risk and improve cyber and physical security practices across our nation. this is a timely hearing as during october we recognize national cyber skurtd security awareness month. it's a shared responsibility that effects every business, organize and american. it's one of the most strategic risks. together we've worked together to develop the capabilities across the interagency with state, local and international partners and in coordination with the private sector. department of defense's eligible receiver exercise lay bear the consequences, initiating a cross government journey to respond to the growing cyber threat. over the ensuing 20 years, through a series of other documents, culminating most recently with 1800, we've established an increasingly defined foundation for the cyber mission space. roles and responsibilities have been further bolstered by

. >>> chairman mccain, ranking member reed and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. in my current role performing the duties of the undersecretary for the national protection and programs directate. i secure and defend our federal networks and facilities. manage risk to critical infrastructure and improve cyber and physical security practices across our nation. this is a timely hearing. during december or october we recognized national cybersecurity awareness month, a time to focus on how cybersecurity is a shared responsibility that affects every business, organization and american and is one of the most significant and strategic risks to the united states. to address this risk is a nation we've worked together to develop the much needed policies, authorities and capabilities across the interagency with state, local and international partners and in coordination with the private sector. department of defense is eligible receiver exercise laid bare our vulnerabilities, initiating a cross-government journey to respond to the growing threat.

rest, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after mccain, chairman of the armed services committee, threatened subpoenas if the pentagon doesn't start telling congress what it knows. >> i felt that we were not getting a sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now. >> reporter: mattis refusing to publicly comment why the fbi is now involved in gathering intelligence on the suspected isis militant that ambushed the u.s. forces. >> the fbi would have jurisdiction to investigate and bring back the perpetrators to the u.s. if it can be done. >> reporter: the pressure is mounting for a public explanation, what did happen to sergeant johnson? >> he was abandoned for two days. for 48 hours. why? why didn't they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety? he could have still been alive. >> reporter: but mattis is fiercely adamant that troops on the ground did everything they could. >> having seen some of the news reports, the u.s. military

i think that's a feeling that's shared by chairman john mccain also. and we are pursuing the issue and we will find what happened and what steps the department is taking to ensure or minimize the possibility of it happening again. >> secretary of defense jim mattis today seemed to sort of express some frustration that people weren't being patient, kind of we're going to look into it, we're investigating, hold your horses. the chair of your committee, john mccain, has expressed his frustration that d.o.d. has not been more forthcoming. do you share that? >> i do share that. we understand that this is a very complicated situation. all the facts and all the details. but i think they should be aware of much more than they've officially communicated to us. and we're going to ask for them very quickly and very soon to come here and tell us what they think happened and more importantly what they're doing to prevent a further occurrence. >> there's a broader question, there's 1,500 american troops in the sahel in that region of west africa, if i'm not mistaken

. >> reporter: armed service committee committee chairman senator john mccain tells fox he wants answers in the attack that killed four and wounded two u.s. service members two weeks ago. >> what steps will you take for the community -- >> a subpoena. >> reporter: today defense secretary james mattis says a full investigation is under way in the pentagon. >> anytime we commit our troops anywhere, it's based on answering a simple first question: is the well-being of the american people sufficiently enhanced by putting our troops there? >> reporter: senators are demanding hearings and why congressional armed services committees haven't been briefed. >> the delay as much as the nondisclosure is a cause for very grave concern. >> reporter: at today's white house briefing the chief of staff john kelly pointed out that an investigation does not indicate exactly that there was wrongdoing. it's more about finding answers. ken? >> lauren, there are questions about these congressional investigations and the hearings. are you getting the sense that that's the direction all of this is going to? >> r

. >> armed services committee chairman senator john mccain tells fox he wants answers in the attack that killed four and wounded two u.s. service members two weeks ago. >> what steps will you take -- >> may require a subpoena. >> reporter: james mattis said a full investigation is underway in the pentagon. >> any time we commit our troops anywhere it's based on answering a simple first question and that is, well-being of the american people sufficiently enhanced by putting our troops there. >> reporter: senators are demanding hearings hearings and why congressional armed services committees have not been brief briefed. >> the delay as much as the non disclosure is a cause for very grave concern. >> congresswoman frederica wilson responded late today to kelly's criticism saying he's just trying to keep his job. >>> meanwhile, president george w. bush speaking at the spirit of liberty event today in new york. the 43rd president talked about bigotry, bullying and white supremacy in his comments and said political discourse today has been degraded by casual cruelty. our young people need pos

defense secretary james mattis met with senate armed services chairman john mccain.ccain said it may take subpoenas to get more information. today the pentagon denied reports that sergeant la david johnson's both was left behind. >> it took us a little while to do that. we didn't leave him behind. we sea and we brought him home. michelle: senator lindsey graham says the full armed services committee will be briefed on the niger ambush next week. meanwhile, somalia's leader plans to announce a state of war against the al-shabaab extremist group that is blamed for saturday's truck bombing that killed more than 350 people. somali official says the u.s. military will play a support role in the new offensive. >> now a "7 on your side" consumer alert. this affects people two travel and there are a lot of you. f.a. is calling for a global ban on lithium batteries in all checked bags. the batteries are found in everything from e cigarettes to laptops. stephen tschida is joining us live from reagan national airport. this could make a mess of travel for a lot of folks. stephen

. >> on behalf of chairman mccain let me recognize senator shaheen. >> thank you, senator reed. thank you to all of her witnesses for being here this morning. i share the frustration you hearing from everyone on this committee about decisions that have not been made actually with respect to cyber threats affecting our nation. one example is the use of casper ski labs antivirus software on u.s. government systems, casper ski labs as reported links to russian intelligence and it is based in moscow, subjects quite get the crimmins intrusive surveillance and interception laws. we just had a recent report of casper ski his role in a successful russian cyber operation to steal classified information from it nsa employees home computer. and yet they remained on the list of approved software for way too long now. this committee put an amendment in the ndaa that would have prohibited the use of that software by the department of defense, and i'm pleased that find we've seen the administration act on that. but i think it really raises the question of how we got to this point. so what stan

senate which is so important in controlling the direction of american policy makes you got senator mccain chairman of the armed services committee and hoover war hawk and he is he has brain cancer like not likely to continue a great deal longer you've got senator corker the chairman of the foreign relations committee he announced in light of everything that's going on he's not going to run for reelection. senator menendez the former chair of the foreign relations committee and a war hawk he's the one who introduced the resolution to attack syria the one that fortunately failed he's now under indictment for corruption and tied ups and and we've got others senator jeff flake who's on armed services is likely to lose his allies from then in twenty eighteen to kelly ward who is very much a. she's very much opposed intensely opposed to regime change in the middle east and to normalizing relations with russia and that sort of things so i think would want him no one knows exactly how it will all play out but i think for ordinary americans this this the results of this election were uplifting and they the

senate armed services committee chairman john mccain just spoke to reporters about this briefing and said officials provided them with a lot of good details. jennifer griffin with the inside on that. she's live at the pentagon this afternoon. jen what do we know? >> shepard, there were two classified briefings this morning. the house went at 8:00 a.m. followed be i the senate armed services committee at 10:00 a.m. where defense secretary mattis performed. both chambers were in attendance. also joining chief carom is buck elton, deputy director for special operations on the joint staff. after the classified briefing, the chairman of the house armed services committee, marks tho thornbury said you're never satisfied. one of my colleagues reminded me we don't flow all the situation from las vegas yet, referencing the resent matt shooting at a country music concert on the strip, shep. >> shepard: jennifer, what do we know more about the ambush? >> we know the 12-man team was on an overnight reconnaissance mission to collect intelligence in the region, which began on october 3 and continu

middle of it with mixed signals in all directions, a continued war in afghanistan and your chairman john mccain telling administration witnesses the other day that they still have not come up with the details of this new plan on afghanistan. what do you do if the secretary of state is either fired or quits? >> regardless of his tenure, i think the president created a dysfunctional situation. the capacity of the state department has been reduced. their budgets have been threatened. many positions haven't been filled. we do not have an ambassador in south korea, which is right at the point of our most significant immediate challenge. nuclear weapons in north korea, we don't have a confirmed secretary. this is really dereliction in terms of what the president should do to build up and have a coherent relationship with the secretary of state. you can't have a coherent relationship with the secretary of state while he is overseas delivering a message that you didn't approve. i don't think rex tillerson shoots from the hip in terms of saying things. this is just an example of the impulsive and disfuy

doesn't change the fact that there are these questions coming from people like senato john mccain, who's chairman of the senator arms services committee, wondering why there has been so little information even two weeks after that happened. so a few things that we know now including this elements of the investigation is that this question over why a french planes came about 30 minutes after the fire fight started, why didn't they drop bombs on. the initially, it was reported at least by some, that they didn't have authorization to do that by niger. now we know, according to u.s. officials they were concerned about causing further harm, that they couldn't really tell on the ground who were u.s. soldiers and who were enemy combat ants. so, details like that, we think we're going to see more, probably in the near term, but the investigation could take a long time. so what the pentagon has been wanting to emphasize too is that the u.s. does not leave soldiers behind. they wanted to say that people shouldn't criticize the actions of other members of this team at this point. not the least because we do

james mattis met friday with senator john mccain, chairman of the armed services committee. are demanding answers two weeks after an ambush killed four u.s. soldiers. mccain was frustrated with what he says is a slow response of information from the trump administration.he threatened to issue a subpoena. sarah huckabee sanders is criticizing a democratic congresswoman over clashing with it, -- with the president. the kelly rejected claims president was disrespectful to the family of a man who was battle.n of theainly, the series comments intended were misunderstood. that is very unfortunate. as the president has said and general kelly said, who i think has a very deep understanding of what the individual would be going through, his comments were very sympathetic, very respectful. that was the spirit in which the president intended them. mark: the british prime minister says there are still -- there is still a way left to go in brexit talks. she spoke friday in brussels. >> i'm optimistic about where we the relationship with the european union. it is not only in the interest t

first of all, senator mccain, your chairman, says there's a briefing coming for the committee.tell us about that? >> we're working together to get a briefing, a classified briefing on what happened. to raise many of the questions with barbara and admiral kir di raised. what about the intelligence, the air cover, evacuation plans. why was it the response slow. all those questions need to be fully answered. in a classified setting, then i think senator mccain will determine if more must be or should be done. >> what do you think about the defense secretary, james mattis, a retired four-star general. his complaint that even he, he's the defense secretary, even he doesn't have all the information. >> i think that's very disturbing. the secretary of defense and national command should be able in this time, we're talking about days, not hours, to be able to assemble a good picture of what happened. there's still outstanding questions i'm sure. but that's dismaying to have him to say he's disappointed. >> statement for president trump on niger what happened as you know by now, was act

closed briefing to find out what happened, and i am really appreciative of the fact that our chairman, senator mccainhas said, we need to find out what's going on. where are all our troops and what are they doing and what happened in this particular tragedy? >> did you -- two of your colleagues, chuck schumer and lindsey graham both were surprised to learn there were basically close to 1,000 american troops in niger. was that a revelation to you as well? >> yes. yes, it was, and that's why i think what this points out is that there are troops and more and more we're using or special troops to go to a lot of different places that we don't know about, and so this points out how we need to find out a heck of a lot more what's happening to our people. >> i think that raises a basic question for people hearing it. the idea 1,000 american service members can be deployed if officially an advisory capacity. we see how easily that can turn into something a lot more dangerous that that sounds. how is that possible? members on the committee of jurisdiction wouldn't know about 1,000 troops being deployed? >> the

mccain and chairman of the senate armed services committee publicly expressed the response to request for information about that attack. >>> tens of thousands will discend to d.c. this weekend for the marine corps marathon and remarkable stories already emerging from the race including gold star families who continue to do good to honor their sons. both lieutenant corporal jordan herder and chris sharer were killed in action in iraq and their parents are running sunday's race to create scholarships in heir names and to raise money for service dogs for wounded veterans. >> i want him to know i try to do all good in his honor and i just want his name to be remembered. >>> herder was awarded the navy cross for his bravery. >>> big weekend here in washington. we've got the marine corps marathon, howard university homecoming and topper says the weather is going to cooperate. >> more than cooperate. i mean picture perfect. howard university homecoming morgan state in town for the ball game. temperature wise between 70 and 75 under mostly sunny skies and light winds a pretty good deal. and o

and i guess there are people like john mccain who should know things because he's chairman of the armed services committee maybe the rest of us don't know. does it come as a surprise how many places we have u.s. troops in? >> i tend to follow it pretty closely. it doesn't surprise me, but specifically with africon. there's 53 nations in that area of responsibility. 15 of the top 25 weakest states are in the africon area of responsibility. in niger alone, 400,000 displaced people. so the reason that there are u.s. troops doing these advisory missions and trying to build partner capacity is because they see it as the best way to stabilize those places so that the next time we face isis it won't be in niger. you know, as you know, they suspect this was an isis affiliate in niger. they've already done limited strikes in libya with the country just to the north and to prevent this expansion the u.s. has continued to expand its operations, its partnerships. usually this is on the backs of us special forces. >> all right. tara, thanks for your great reporting. learned a lot from it. tara copp

mccain. the chairman of the armed services committee threatened to issue subpoenas to get more details about that october 4 attack. the fallout has rattled the military, congress and the country. but it was the president's calls and what he said that ignited a national debate. florida democratic congresswoman frederica wilson said she heard the president tell the widow of one of the soldiers who was killed that, quote, her husband knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurts. end quote. mr. trump denied saying that and his chief of staff, john kelly, a retired marine general whose son was killed in afghanistan seven years ago, defended the president. >> he called four people the other day and expressed his condolences in the best way that he could. and he said to me, what do i say? i said to him, sir, there's nothing you can do to lighten the burden on these families. >> hours later, president trump attacked wilson, who criticized his call to the widow of sergeant johnson, insisting she lied about what he said. let's begin tonight about what we know, nancy, about the mission there.

with, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after mccain, chairman of the armed services committee, threatened subpoenas if the pentagon doesn't start telling congress what it knows. >> i felt that we were not getting a sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now. >> mattis refusing to publicly comment why the fbi is now involved in gathering intelligence on the suspected isis militant that ambushed the u.s. forces. >> the fbi would have jurisdiction to investigate and bring back the perpetrators to the u.s. if it can be done. >> the b pressure is mounting for a public explanation. what did happen to sergeant johnson? >> he was abandon for two days, for 48 hours. why? why didn't they pick him up and put him on their shoulders like they did the other fallenen comrades? and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety.? he could have still been alive. center but that is. >> but mattis is fiercely adamant they did that. >> i would ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the fire fight and qu

senate arms services chair committee chairman john mccain says they're not being upfront and he's askedor more on this attack. sergeant la david johnson was one of four killed more than two weeks ago. they were told not to expect any attack. now pentagon believes they were attacked by an offshoot of isis. >> no indication that this was going to occur. >> the attackers were described as well trained, well equipped, and well organized, and with no one overhead to help them, the green berets were trapped. the first to arrive were french mirage jets. >> they were able to fly overhead about 30 minutes after first nt for the three who were mortally wounded. sergeant la david johnson was always wounded, his body not recovered until two days later. his wife is pregnant with their third child. congresswoman fredericka wilson was with myesha johnson. >> i heard the president say, he knew what he was signing up for. >> his mother said the president disrespected her son but the president says it was fabricated. >> i did not say that. i had a very nice conversation with the woman, the wife, who soun

. >> senator john mccain chairman of the arm services committee talked to mcmaster about setting up ariefing for the congress and said he wouldn't rule out subpoenaing the administration on this matter if nes. james mattis said that this is under investigation. let's watch him. >> and the loss of our troops is under investigation. we in the department of defense like to know what we're talking about before we talk. and so we do not have all of the accurate information yet. we will release it as rapidly as we get it. >> i'm joined right now been senator ed marky. senator, when we lost those people, including chris stephens, our ambassador in benghazi, the republicans spent years enjoying it politically, 'em boiling it with every conspiracy theory. what do we know about the four soldiers who were killed in niger, africa two weeks ago. >> we don't know enough. we don't know the mission. we don't know the intelligence was that they were acting on. that's the reason that senator mccain and general mattis is saying they're conducting investigations because the american people and the famili

but senator john mccain, chairman of the armed services community was more blunt about the growing questionsdoes the committee need to know in terms of details? can you be more specific? >> everything. >> what steps are you taking to get to bottom of it? >> everything. up to subpoena. had a conversation with -- and said that they would be briefing us. we have a long friendship and we'll hopefully get all the details. >> do you feel the administration has been forthcoming about what happened there? >> of course not. >> more now about the investigation. jim sciutto. >> reporter: head of the committee is demanding answers. >> loss of our troops is under investigation. we in department of defense like to know what we're talking about before we talk. so we do not have all the accurate information yet. we'll release it as rapidly as we get it. >> reporter: two weeks after the ambush, defense secretary james mattis officials say is discouraged by lack of information he's received from his own people on isis attack in niger that killed four u.s. soldiers and injured two more. 12 member u.s. army tea

committee chairman john mccain says he will use subpoenas if he has to.they had been told not to expect enemy contact. the pentagon also faces questions about why one of them, sergeant la david johnson, wasn't found until two days after the mission. defense secretary james mattis strongly denies johnson was left on the battlefield, saying the u.s. military does not leave troops behind. >> white house chief of staff john kelly strongly defended his boss yesterday in an emotional statement. he slammed democratic congresswoman frederica wilson for saying president trump was insensitive to the wife of one of the soldiers killed in niger. kelly also talked at length about the death of his son, a marine lieutenant in 2010. >> typically the only phone calls a family receives are the most important phone calls they can imagine, and that is from their buddies. in my case, hours after my son was killed his friends were calling us from afghanistan, telling us what a great guy he was. those are the only phone calls that really matter. some presidents have elected to

senator john mccain chairman of the armed services committee said he has not been briefed on any of it yet. >> do you think that you know enough about the deaths of the four soldiers in niger? >> of course not. >> have you been briefed? >> no. >> why not? >> you'd have to ask the pentagon. >> have you asked? >> what questions do you have? >> of course not directing the reporters to the pentagon. about 800 u.s. troops are stationed in niger. but less than a hundred work with the country's military. a majority work on surveillance and drone operations. military goals in the country focus on fighting terrorist organizations including boko haram, al qaeda, and a group calling itself isis-gs who are believed to be responsible for this specific attack. nbc pentagon correspondent hans nichols joins me live. the pentagon is collecting raw facts. why is this situation so confusing? >> because they weren't planning for it. it's in part of the world without great surveillance. and in a lot of way whence you have this kind of chaotic environment -- situation, it's always kwb stephanie, difficult t

. >> reporter: armed service committee committee chairman senator john mccain tells fox he wants answerstack that killed four and wounded two u.s. service members two weeks ago. >> what steps will you take for the community -- >> a subpoena. >> reporter: today defense secretary james mattis says a full investigation is under way in the pentagon. >> anytime we commit our troops anywhere, it's based on answering a simple first question: is the well-being of the american people sufficiently enhanced by putting our troops there? >> reporter: senators are demanding hearings and why congressional armed services committees haven't been briefed. >> the delay as much as the nondisclosure is a cause for very grave concern. >> that was lauren blanchard reporting from washington, dc. >>> ten out of ten. that's the ranking president trump gave his own administration's response to puerto rico after it was slammed by hurricane maria. what puerto rico's governor said today after a meeting with the president. >> plus, a first look at prototypes of the new border wall that president trump has promised to

even hawkish john mccain, the chairman of the senate armed services committee wants answers that hopefully stretch beyond the particulars of this tragedy. it does nothing to keep us safer and compromises the lives and liberty of those charged with protecting ours. gum flappers are calling this trump's benghazi. we hardly have the facts to make that gross assessment. but this administration has to be held accountable for not overextending a war fought in the shadows with virtually no oversight. let's get into the show. i'm kennedy. defense secretary mattis today said the troop deaths are under investigation. the pentagon is sending a team to niger to figure out what happened. but why were we there in the first place. do we need boots on the ground in places like niger and mali? joining me, bryan suits. suits, welcome back. i know you worked as a defense sub contractor in africa. i know you can't talk specifically about that work, but you can shed some light on why we are there and make sense of a very confuse ago situation. >> there is a significant foreign internal defense mission in afric

amy: this comes as republican senator john mccain, chairman of the armed services committee, threatenenedo issue a subpbpoa in order to speed up the release of details about thehe attack. on monday, johohnson's widow spe out on "good morning america" about her husband's death, saying she was upset about remarks president trump made during a condolence call. myeshia johnson reaffirmed that she and others heard trump say, "he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway." she said it "made me cry even worse" and noted the president also struggled to remember her husband's name. >> it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his was and how he said it. my husband remember name. the only way he remembered my husband name was because he told me he had my husband report in front of him. that is when he actually said "l "la david." i heard him stumbling on charter member my husband and. that hurt me. if my husband is out here fighting for my country and he risk his life for my country, why can't you remember his name? amy: last week, florida cocongressmember f frederica win said sh

rest, defense secretary james mattis on capitol hill briefed senator john mccain one day after mccain, chairmand services committee, threatened subpoenas if the pentagon doesn't start telling congress what it knows. >> i felt it had definitely not getting sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now. >> mattis refusing to publicly comment why the fbi is now involved in gathering intelligence on the suspected isis militant that ambushed the u.s. forces. >> the fbi would have jurisdiction to investigate and bring back the perpetrators to the u.s. if it can be done. >> the pressure is mounting for a public explanation. what did happen to sergeant johnson? >> he was abandoned for two days. for 48 hours. why? why didn't they pick up him and put him their shoulders like they did the other fallen comrades? and put him on a helicopter and take him to safety. he could have still been alive. >> but mat titis is fiercely adamant that troops on the ground did everything they could. >> having seen some of the news reports, the u.s. military does not leave its troops behind and i

who have been calling for more information and concerned about the lack of it is senator john mccain, chairman of the senate armed services committee. and now we know the pentagon will give his committee a classified briefing this thursday. chris and alisyn? >> michelle, thank you very much. joining us now are cnn political analyst and white house correspondent for "the new york times," maggie haberman, and her alone. she has so many sources, we speak about her in the collective. you are a panel in and of yourself. that's what it said, that's what you are. >> i'll put my glasses on and i'll run to that side. >> an apple is an apple, you are a panel. >> wow. >> so let me ask you this question, this beguiling question that only you can answer. this is a situation where the president could have instant high ground and say, what just happened in niger, we're going to find out what happened and then you in congress, you better own your duty and start debating what's happening militarily. i'm not a big fan of getting involved all over the world. that's what i campaigned on. we've got people all over