>> i do, sir. >> general dunford? >> that's a policy decision, i'll defer to the secretary. >> militarily, do you think it would be wise for us to help saudi arabia? >> the only military judgment consideration is how does that fit into qualitative military edge for israelis and it's been looked at through that lens and it's not a challenge. >> let's get back to this right quick, general mattis. if congress rejects this arms deal, what message are you sending to iran? >> i believe iran would be appreciative of us not selling those weapons to saudi arabia. >> and the tight weapons we're talking about selling would make saudi arabia more effective on the battlefield on places like yemen and not less because of the specific nature of the weapons? >> with proper training, it can have that effect, yes, sir. >> okay. >> north korea, is it the policy of the trump administration to deny north cor korea of an icbm. >> yes, sir, it is, senator graham. >> that policy has to have all options on the table to be meaningful, includin

chairman of the joint chiefs dunford calls south korean counterpart to discuss military options.

general joseph dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. army's ranks enlarged after 9/11 and they shrank after the iraq and afghanistan drawdowns and now they have begun to inch back up. the army wants to be sure, though, that if the units are larger that they are also properly trained and equipped. the army and other services have said their readiness, their preparedness to fight is not up to standard. to improve the situation the army wants more money, but everyone agrees it needs to be well spent. the army has had trouble in particular executing large weapons acquisitions and billions were spent on the crusader, co marchy and future combat systems programs, for example, with much less to show for than had originally been planned. the army is battle hardened today but it has mostly waged one particular type of war, counterinsurgency. while tomorrow's fights might be markedly different in character, to stay ahead of the curve the army is focused on keeping pace with rapid technological change. general mark milley is keenly aware of all of

general dunford put out that memo saying this is what's going on.s like pretty big disruption to me. there are disruptions with everything that we do, every walk and live. will there's religious disruption in the country. those are overcome by leadership. so leadership is the problem, not transskrgender people. >> how about morale? >> if you're a good leader, morale will be high because you lead from the front and by example as the president does. look at the future generation of kids growing up. i walk down the high school to give a speech and all those kids are like whatever. what kind of example is being set if all they're talking about is hate and bigotry and telling other americans they're not worthy. i'm saying we are all equal, we should be treated with dignity and respect. every american. that's the example that should be set by our leaders. >> 20 years in the service, a retired navy seal, you certainly have our respect christian beck. thank you. at the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's, we carry flowers that signify why we wan

general dunford, laying it out there in black and white.w what comes next or what the president wants and don't know how to carry it out, because all of this was military policy by twitter. so a long way to go here. one of the key questions that emerged across the military is, what will happen to people currently serving, who are transgender persons? will they be forcibly removed from the military? will they get an honorable discharge, which is vital for them to get military and health care benefits as retirees based on how many years, of course, they serve. getting that honorable discharge, if the president wants to push them out, is going to be absolutely vital to their future. john? >> on day two of this still more questions than answers. barbara starr live at the pentagon. appreciate that very much. bring the conversation back into the room as we have the conversation, number one, what general dunford said there. leave the existing policy in place until the president goes from what he said on twitter to actually telling the defense what

the head of the us military generaljoe dunford has said there will be no change to its policy on employing mr trump tweeted yesterday that transgender people wouldn't be allowed to serve in the armed forces in any capacity. our washington correspondent gave us the latest. well, when it comes to donald trump and his tweets it seems to have taken the pentagon completely off—guard. he tweeted yesterday that transgender people would no longer serve in the military and described them as, "a tremendous burden" because of their medical cost when it comes to them being part of the us armed forces. it did seem to take a few people by surprise including many of his own generals, the defence secretary is away at the moment, so he could give no clarification, we finally have the statement from the pentagon who said they too are awaiting a directive from the white house, but generaljoseph dunford who has issued this statement to all chiefs of staff has said that things will stay as they are until they get direction from the white house and he said that all personnel will be treated with respect. laura

one of dunford's top generals confirmed that. >> will, always has, will today and tomorrow and always should treat every single soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guard with dignity and respect of our nation. >> it comes a day after what president trump tweeted what appeared to be a ban on transgender service members. >>> today president trump presented the medal of valor to five first responders for their actions in a june 14th shooting at a baseball practice for republican members of congress. the president thanked capitol police officers and alexandria police officers for what he called courageous actions. >> the medal of valor is reserved for those who go above and beyond the call of duty as each of these men and women did that oh than fateful day, and they did it with great courage, and they did it with instinct. >> the shooting severely injured house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana. one officer sustained a gunshot wound in the ankle, another had a minor injury not caused by gunfire. p>>> let's turn our attention t the forecast. >> hot one today. spencer christian is

one of dunford's top generals confirmed that. >> will, always has, will today and tomorrow and always should treat every single soldier, sailor, airman, marine, coast guard with dignity and respect of our nation. >> it comes a day after what president trump tweeted what appeared to be a ban on transgender service members. >>> today president trump presented the medal of valor to five first responders for their actions in a june 14th shooting at a baseball practice for republican members of congress. the president thanked capitol police officers and alexandria police officers for what he called courageous actions. >> the medal of valor is reserved for those who go above and beyond the call of duty as each of these men and women did that oh than fateful day, and they did it with great courage, and they did it with instinct. >> the shooting severely injured house majority whip steve scalise of louisiana. one officer sustained a gunshot wound in the ankle, another had a minor injury not caused by gunfire. p>>> let's turn our attention t the forecast. >> hot one today. spencer christian is

the chairman of the joint chiefs, general joseph dunford, in a memo to military leaders said, "thereications to the current policy until the president's direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance." nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nicholls has been following all of this. what do we know at this point, hans? >> reporter: craig, we just heard from the army chief of staff general mele and he said he first found out about this decision when the president tweeted it. he didn't know about it before hand. he said he didn't necessarily expect he would be read in on something like that, but the general kind of giving us our first voice on just how confused the pentagon is and the challenges that they have in implementing this policy. so you had general dunford sending out that memo, making sure and making very clear that they expect everyone including transgender members of the military, to be treated with respect. we had a mem know from the chief navy admiral in carnal of navy personnel saying medical practice will continu

again, general dunford, the chief military adviser. he says, i quote, i know there are questions about yesterday's announcement on the transjend policy by the president. there will be no modifications to current policy until the president's direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary has issued implementation guidance. in the meantime, we should continue to treat personnel with respect and importantly, given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions. you may notice in that statement, there is no portion of it which states specific support for president trump's ban. this is the chairman of the joint chief saying they will move ahead. they will look for the guidance on this. they will figure out a way ahead. very importantly, he offers no public words of support for the president's decision. it is hard to see how that is an oversight. anything that comes out of the chairman's office is very carefully crafted and screened because of the positio

and as you just mentioned, general dunford, we have a very clear now plan, step by step for the finalcontinues to hold. this will take time, but the plan is very well defined and coming together. and a part of it, andrea, also is the bigger picture. your lead-in segment mentioned the russians in syria. look, we're working to find areas in which our interests converge in syria and we can find areas of the country in which we can work together to basically deescalate the overall violence. that means fewer people dying, fewer refugees, trying to return people to their homes. so we did that in the southwest of syria. it's a very important part of syria, right on the border of israel and jordan. that cease-fire now has been in place for over two weeks, it's holding remarkably well and unlike other cease-fires we tried, what' different is we worked for a couple months with the russians and jordanians who are a critical player in this, and king abdullah was a real driver of this process, to work out a very painstaking negotiation kind of block by block through dpchlt aras city and in this pa

kelly comes from a live of combatant commanders that includes james mattis and joe dunford. i remember in the iraq war of 2003, dunford relieved the commander of the unit that was traveling with right in the heat of battle. so this is a group of combatant commanders that when they see a problem, they deal with it swiftly and quickly. what is really interested about this, neil, is the fact that the president had wanted scaramucci in that job. he had given him that direct line of communication. he had given him seniority over sean spicer and ten days later in comes john kelly and scaramucci is out. so just goes to show that the president is willing to take some pretty drastic steps to get the team in that he wants, neil. >> neil: you mentioned -- here we are. >> don't worry, john roberts. you have plenty of time. >> waiting for you. good afternoon, everyone. before we get started, i'd like to bring up general h.r. mcmaster and treasury secretary steve mnuchin to discussion the administration's response, to the maduro regimed anti-democratic actions in venezuela. they will make

and just a few days ago, publicly the chairman of the joint chiefs, general joe dunford, told an audience where he was appearing that he would be ready to take those options to the president, wolf. >> dramatic developments indeed. barbara starr, will ripley, alexandra field, all working the story. stand by. i want to bring in democratic senator mazy has rune e i hharu. thanks for joining us. >> hello, wolf. >> alaska and hawaii, closest potential targets to north korea. on a scale of one to ten, senator, how concerned are you about this latest ballistic missile launch? >> we continue to be concerned, because we know that kim jong-un will continue to do these missile launches and that's why north korea and what they're doing is a matter of great concern to us, and we did just pass in the senate a sanctions bill relating to russia and north korea and iran. but i know that there are more sanctions that we could place on north korea and that is an avenue pursued by the chair of our foreign relations committee, bob corker and our ranking member cordon. so there are more things we can do at the

the chairman of the joint chiefs, general joe dunford, called his south korean counterpart to discussion military options. and just now the president has released a statement saying the united states will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the american homeland and protect our allies in the region. lester? >> andrea mitchell with that late-breaking information, thank you. >>> now the defeat for senate republicans and their last ditch effort to repeal parts of obamacare. as the marathon session stretched into the night, senator john mccain shocked his colleagues by casting a decided no vote. provoking gasps in the chamber. nbc capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt was up all night watching it and explains how it all went down. >> reporter: after seven years of fighting, the republican promise to repeal obamacare is broken. senator john mccain stunned his president and his party overnight, stepping up and voting no. to gasps in the senate chamber. the so-called skinny repeal bill failed 49-51. two other republicans also voting no. >> this is, you know, clearly a disappointi

chairman of the joint chiefs general joseph dunford discussed military responses with his south koreanounter-part. in a show of force, the u.s. and south korean military staged a joint missile exercise in direct response to north korea. this as secretary of state rex tillerson is still trying to free three americans hemmed captive there. anthony. >> mason: margaret brennan, thanks. while most americans were sleeping, the seven-rear republican battle to repeal and replace obamacare died on the floor of the united states senate. here's chief congressional correspondent nancy cordes. >> it's not a death nell. >> reporter: house republicans begged their senate colleagues today not to give up. >> you know, it's a fail. they have to-- they've got to get back at it. >> time to move on. >> reporter: butn hours of the morning, senate leader gregg mitchell said he had exhausted all options. >> this is a disappointment. >> reporter: it came after flee republicans defected on a last-ditch, slimmed-down repeal bill that many admitted was not great policy. >> miss murkowski. >> no. >> reporter: alas

in a memo to all commanders general joe dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs, says there will be no modifications to the current policy until the president's directive is made formal. "for now," he says, "we will continue to treat all of our personnel with respect." that spells uncertainty for transgender service members like mia mason after five tours in iraq and afghanistan. >> very costly for me. i lose my healthcare. i lose my pension, and those are things that i've earned for the 18 years i've served. >> reporter: as for the civil rights law, most federal courts have ruled that it does not ban job discrimination against gays and lesbians, but this latest filing is a clear break from what the obama administration said the law should be. lester? >> pete williams, thank you. >>> it's expected to be a very long night in the u.s. senate where republicans are in a marathon session leading up to an expected vote on a so-called skinny repeal that would do away with some but not all of obamacare. we get the latest from nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt. >> we all know this

military officer clarified some of the confusion n a letter to military service chiefs general joseph dunford said th transgender people to serve remains in place. now he said it will not change until the white house sends the defense department a rules change and the secretary of defense issues new guidelines. the house voted to approve a 788 billion-dollar spending bill. the spending plan includes more than one and a half billion dollars as a down payment for a border wall along the u.s. and mexico border. now the wall has a major promise from president trump -- it was a major promise from president trump during the campaign. the president has previously said that mexico would pay for that wall but the bill calls for taxpayer's money for its construction. the plan also includes a big budget increase for the pentagon. >> well, time now sy is 4:34. we're following breaking news from anne arrundel county. a fire at a popular restaurant near the river. this happened at coconut charlie's in pasadena maryland. we're told crews got scene around 3 o'clock this morning. there's been a partial collap

today, in an internal memo, marine general joe dunford said that, pending actual direction, "we will continue to treat all our personnel with respect." the army's chief of staff, general mark milley, echoed that in a washington appearance. >> we grow up and learn to obey the chain of command and my chain of command is the secretary of the army and the secretary of defense and the president so we will work through the implementation guidance when we get it and then we'll move from there. >> woodruff: defense secretary jim mattis has been on vacation, and has made no public comment on re-instating the ban. the u.s. house has approved $1.6 billion for president trump's proposed wall on the mexican border. that's the amount he formally asked for in may. the vote today attached the money to a much larger bill that includes a major increase in defense spending. it now goes to the senate. a top senate republican had sharp words for the president today, over attorney general jeff sessions. mr. trump has repeatedly attacked sessions for recusing himself in the russia investigation. but senato

chairman of the joint chiefs dunford calls south korean counterpart to discuss military options. >>> tesla has unveiled its much-awaited model 3 electric car delivering the first 30 last night to employees. the sticker price of 35,000 is about half the cost of tesla's previous electric cars. they can travel about 220 miles on a single charge. tesla ceo elon musk says the company has received more than a half million reservations for that car. that's why he says tesla is facing a production hell to fill the orders. >>> another west wing shakeup at the white house to tell you about this morning. the president announced in a tweet late yesterday afternoon homeland security secretary general john kelly will replace reince priebus as white house chief of staff. priebus resigned thursday and says he leaves on amicable terms. >> i feel good about the fact that he's making a change that makes him comfortable moving forward. we had a good talk yesterday. i resigned. he accepted it. we started working together and talking about who would be a great pick to come in here. >> john kelly will do a

general joseph dunford said there will be know modifications to the current policy until the president's direction has been received by the secretary of defense and the secretary's issued implementation guidance. in the meantime, we will that continue to treat all of our personnel with respect. >> a ride at an ohio fair malfunctions and tonight one person is dead. several others hurt. >> and tonight of course the question on many people's minds, are the rides at our fairs here in our area safe? we're going have details coming up. kristen. >> reporter: good evening, it's been a long time coming for fairfax county. will j.e.b. stuart high be officially changed? that's the great debate here. we're live at tonight's board meeting were. stay with us for more. >> if you've got an idea for a story, call the fox5 tip line. the number (202) 895-3000. or you can e-mail your tips to fox5 tips at wttg.com. >> ♪ >> ♪♪ >> we learn if a northern virginia named after a confederate general will change its name. >> this has been a heated debate for the falls church community. >> is it necessary for this n

general dunford who heads the joint chiefs of staffs he didn't know about it. president's own communication team didn't know about it until they read it. who did he consult with? we don't no, if anyone. >> what do we make about the president's use of twitter. >> he is amazing. he uses the tweets to say what is on his mind and communicate with his folks. but here is the thing, the beauty for the president is that when he uses the tweet, he doesn't have to answer back to anyone. it is a one way form of communication. he gets out his ideas and we are on our own. critics would say he is misusing. he is not having press conferences. only had one. when he does say these words, they carry, they have an impact that most of us don't have. and for that reason, a number of people are saying, mr. president, how about meeting with people. how about meeting with the press more and tweeting less. >> i know. >> we will see if he listens to that, but i doubt it. definitely making headlines. thanks. great to have you here. >> you can join the conversation on facebook, like our n

general dunford recently was quoted to rethink their battle plans so they are not simply pushing isisrom one location or country to another. the food program was on capitol hill yesterday it was morning. >> if a family cannot feed the children after two or three weeks, they will resort to any means necessary which is usually extremism. we have the first line of offense and defense on the ground against extremism and terrorism. >> melissa: expect questions about sending more troops to afghanistan. president trump weighs in on that. >> melissa: a fox news alert for you now. the very first meeting for the presidential advisory commission on the election is on the way. it's gotten off to a rocky star start. the president created the commission after alleging voter fraud it cost him the popular vote. >> any form of illegal or fraudulent voting, or any voter suppression or intimidation must be stopped. >> melissa: a fox news contributor, you pointed out, the commission is asking for information. a lot of this can be purchased so as not necessarily so secret. this can include sony's name, da

until that happens, joint chiefs chairman joe dunford promised to treat all personnel with respect. milley acknowledged his branch has struggled with transgender soldiers. >> we've had to deal with problems, we deal it with respectively and quietly in honor of the institution. >> press secretary sarah huckabee sanders promised the white house would follow the right protocol. >> the white house will work with the department of defense and all of the relevant parties to make sure we fully implement this policy moving forward and do so in a lawful manner. >> reporter: for transgender army captain jennifer peace, the current situation is confusing. >> the military operates on regulatory guidance and right now we are lacking that. >> reporter: serving openly for a year has been a relief, peace said, but now her future is uncertain. >> there's anxiety and concern what's to come next, but all i can do is go into work and do my best and do my job. >> reporter: a spokesperson for the defense secretary said the service chiefs can expect more detailed guidance in the near future. exactly how n

-based camera to save your life in the room but when general dunford shows up, everybody's in the room. you wonder what's going on here because this is your neighbor to the south. there's a vigorous campaign for the presidency and yet you're not in the room to hear about this leading contender may deal with nafta and all those critical issues and we lose when you don't have when you don't have a seat at the table and a window into what's going on, then you're not informed, and that's bad. >> is it because americans aren't interested? or is it perhaps that at least in some parts of america access to news outlets like al-jazeera or "the hill latino," or the bbc is limited or nonexistent? >> you have to make the decision of what is important to cover and bring into people's living rooms in the 24-hour news cycle. if you decide that covering the crisis in venezuela's important, then they'll pay attention to it. but if they don't have the foresight to connect the dots, to say, like rosalind was talking about, if you've got one of the largest forward operating bases full of american troops a

it's often said by experts that the military option is not realistic and general dunford said it's not off the table. that's important for japan. i would like to ask our american panelists about that. the progress on the japan-korea peace of the tri-lateral agreement and how ready we are and where we need to be more ready to deal with, to deal with contingencies emanating from north korea. including not only attack, but also collapse. or provocations. there's a range of threats we have to think about. so let me start -- i'm going to sort of direct certain questions and yes, please, sorry. you got no rest. so generally you're thinking about north korea. but also specifically i'm interested in your view on the japan/korea peace of this. and how ready is japan? clearly not enough. but what are the areas where japan and u.s. and korea has to make more efforts to be prepared for the growing challenge. >> translator: thank you very much. with timing bad timing but the launch of the icbm by north korea, that was reported. let me consider the dprk, in 1998, the sky over japan there was a fligh

. >> general joseph dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs, he said in a statement to his personn personnel, meantime we will kpont to treat all of our personnel with respect as importantly given the current fight and the challenges we face, we will all remain focused on accomplishing our assigned missions. are you concerned that the president made this announcement major policy decision via twitter seemingly with zero notice or preparation? >> oh, i think it's -- very disappointing. you know, to give a major policy directive through a tweet to the leaders of our military, who by all accounts were not consulted prior to the president making the decision. the president certainly has the authority to make the decision. i believe that the president, as a member of the house services committee, a combat war veteran, should have allowed the general to finish the process, that the president was well aware was underway. so it is disappointing, but the department of defense is going to have to deal with it. it's far more extensive, what the president is asking for, than was being debated in the con

here's what the chairman of the joint chiefs general joseph dunford had to say about it at a recent press conference. >> it will allow a nuclear weapon to land in denver, colorado. that's unimaginable to me. my job will be to develop military options to make sure that doesn't happen. >> reporter: house representatives overwhelmingly approved tough sanctions over north korea as well as sanctions on iran and russia. >>> majority whip scalise has been discharged from the hospital and he will now begin intense rehabilitation. scalise spent a month going through several surgeries after he was hit by a bullet during a mass shooting at a congressional baseball practice in a d.c. suburb of virginia. on a positive note, his doctors said he is making excellent progress. >>> the bay area's long-term future taking center stage later today. what's it going to look like in 2040? leaders on all nine counties will be voting on a plan which will include 820,000 uhousing units, more than a million jobs and transportation. they will meet tonight in san francisco to vote on that plan. that is at 7:00. >>> up

one of the realities here and general dunford and general mccaffrey will tell you this, is that any conflict on the peninsula will not be a short duration, a quick strike, it will involve literally hundreds of thousands of casualties, it will be a long, drawn out fight. we have to take the steps now that would minimize that possibility, but as general dunsford and others have said, we cannot take that option off the table, that's what's so important now to use the time we have to use every type of economic, geopolitical means to stop this program. and then to begin to push it back. >> and on the other front, russia. what do we do now that vladimir putin is expelling, or threatening to expel as of september 1, so many hundreds and hundreds of our people out of russia? >> first i think we protest more vehemently than we seem to be doing. the state department is putting out a statement that they are evaluating it. we have to remind the russian community that our sanctions are based on several actions that the russians took, not the united states, they invaded crimea, they are supporting the ins

. >> bret: heard it from the pentagon that mattis was aware of dunford's statement when it came out aheadf time. have we heard anything about this new yorker piece, but the courts that we are saying about the dustup from the white house? >> because it happened so late in the day, their to quiet. a senior administration official said that some folks are feeling uneasy to say the least. >> bret: many of you may be wondering why i'm here at the white house, it's something we hope to do at least once a week going forward. as some of the biggest stories come out of this building behind me. it's a change of scenery from our studio up on the hill, i'd also like to invite some of the senior administration officials, even the president himself if he wants to come outside and talk to us here, it's much easier right on the sidewalk. maybe being outside here will make it more enticing to make it a short walk for an interview. i will say it's a lot hotter than the studio itself. other news, we could be just hours away from an obamacare overhaul or a collapse. at this hour, the senate has yet to enter

taking his messages as a sense of attitude and when they are backed up, for instance, by general dunford, who a week ago talked about diplomacy, running for only a few more months, senator feinstein, nikki haley, a lot of other people talking about this, i think they are starting to get the message that the president is expressing the mood not only of what he's feeling at that particular moment on twitter, but also just the way americans are approaching china right now, because there is this lack of patience. >> we saw american b-1 bombers flying with south korean jets today near seoul. what do we read into that? >> i think this is more reassurance towards south korea and japan than it is a warning to north korea. north korea is not worried about our b-1 bombers, but what we were worried about is president moon jae-in in south korea becoming sort of unsure about america's commitment to defend the south. also, there's an important military component to these exercises, because this is not just the u.s. those u.s. b-1bs were escorted by japanese and korean planes, that's a logistics issue,

heard from from general dunford a few days ago. that's their job. they need to do that.n't any thin wants k anyone it to come to that stage. te thad system is sophisticated, very strong. you saw as diane reported a recent successful test. it's a good system. it is a purely defensive system and this is something people need to remember, particularly russia and china. this isn't an offensive system. it's about protecting our interests and the interests of our allies and partners but not a panacea. it works and is capable, but nobody's looking at this as sort of to solve all the problems kind of solutions. >> admiral, john kirby and diane gag gur, appreciate it. >>> and a message for senate republicans over a failure to repeal and replace obamacare saying, "the world is watching." straight ahead, how this threats are being received and what they could mean for your health care. . your privacy makes you my number 1 place... ...to go number 2. i love you, but sometimes you stink. ♪ new febreze air effects with odorclear technology cleans... ...away odors like never before. be

the most important enter enter last week was andrea mitchell talking with general dunford.ve a war cabinet right now of general kelly, jim mattis, joe dufford, mike pompeo, tom cotton is the president's favorite senator. there's a huge story in the background and a very competent team, but the deadwood shooting has to stop. >> i think some people worry it's not deadwood, it's quentin tarantino. anyway, before we go to break. this evening on "sunday night with megyn kelly" kate snow is doing a report on whether talc may increase the risk of ovarian cancer. an important study worth watching tonight. that of course is tonight at 7:00/6:00 central on nbc. >>> we're back in 45 seconds with end game and something we never thought we'd hear. >>> coming up, end game brought to you by boeing. continuing our mission to connect, protect, explore and inspire. to you by boeing. continuing our mission to jack be nimble, jack be quick, jack knocked over a candlestick onto the shag carpeting... ...and his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. luckily jack recently

marine corps general joseph dunford, the chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said the announcement caught him by surprise and that the military would continue to allow transgender soldiers and officers to serve until defense secretary james mattis received specific instructions from the president. this is general mark milley, chief of staff of the army, speaking thursday. >> to date, walking in here, i've yet to receive and limitation guidance, directives, from the department of defense general mattis. we grow up and learn to obey the chain of command. my chain of command for secretary of army and the secretary of defense, right? and the president. so we will work through the implementation guidance when we get it. amy: trump's ban on transgender troops could impact as many as 15,000 people. it's unclear whether they would face honorable or dishonorable discharges. at the white house, divisions among senior staff were on full display thursday after newly appointed communications director anthony scaramucci railed against leaks in a series of expletive-laden interviews. on wednesday, scara

>> the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff marks reason jen joseph dunford is responding to president trump's announcement b

the president chairman joe dunford knocked on his door and general kelly saw him in uniform, he knew his son was dead. before leaving at the head of u.s. southern command, bret, general kelly spoke to reporters at the pentagon and to give an indication of how he thinks how u.s. advisors -- take a listen to what he said. >> this more stuff is hard. it's not for the untrained. the mentorship, the advising is what makes -- the equipment is important but it doesn't come close to having people that are just with them over time. >> born and raised in boston, before the age of 16, general kelly hitchhiked across the united states. he will bring his decades of experience to this job can be a part of any military decisions. >> bret: lucas tomlinson at the pentagon. let's check in with mike emanuel on capitol hill for some reaction there. >> a number of top republicans on capitol hill are praising the selection of tom kelly, noting that he brings unparalleled leadership skills to the job as a retired marine corps general. they know him here on capitol hill from his time on homeland security. a

in a letter to military service chiefs general joseph dunford said that the policy permitting transgendereople to serve remains in place. he said it will not change until the white house sends the defense department a rules change and the secretary of defense issues new guidelines. >> the house has voted to approve a spending bill with the price tag of $788 billion. that spending plan includes more than $1.5 billion as down payment for a border wall along the u.s. and mexico border of the the wall was a major promise from president trum the president has said previously that mexico would way for the wall but the bill calls for taxpayers' money for its construction. the plan also includes a big budget increase for the pentagon. >> ♪ >> all right. 5:06 right now. it is humid outside and you can just feel the rain a coming, mike. >> yeah, you are absolutely right. we got humidity out there and that's kind of fuel for this rain shower activity we're expecting later on this afternoon and evening. here's satellite and radar. big picture showing nothing too organized just yet but there's a littl