hold the saudi led coalition that's willing to curtail support should things not change and to general dunford i want to ask you if possible about something you don't really talk about which is your communications with your russian counterpart general gerasim office since the russians confirmed that they had asked about refugees and reconstruction i just want to ask what do you think that's an appropriate use of the military to military communications to you know for the last several years we have been working with the saudis and the. doing what we can to reduce any chance of of innocent people being injured or killed we recognize that we are watching a war in which the hooty led effort. involves launching weapons out of residential areas into saudi arabia we recognize the complexity of it at no time have we felt rebuffed or ignored when we bring concerns to them the training that we have given them we know has paid off we have had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specific mission and declined to drop even when they get the authority we have seen staff procedures that put no fir

to general dunford, i want to ask you, the russians confirmed they had asked about refugee reconstruction or do think that is an appropriate use of military communications? gen. dunford: for the last several years, we have been working with the saudi's doing what we can to reduce any chance of innocent people being injured or killed. we recognize that we are watching a war in which the efforts involved launching weapons out of residential areas into saudi arabia we recognize the complexity of it. we have not felt rebuffed or ignored when we bring concerns to them. the training we have given them we know has paid off. we have had pilots in the air who recognize the danger of a specific region and are declined to drop when they get the authority. with seen staff sutures that put no fire areas around areas where there are hospitals and schools. we recognize every mistake like this is tragic in every way. we have not seen any callous disregard by the people we are working with. we will continue to work with them to reduce this tragedy. gen. dunford: i maintain the communications link with our

secretary and general dunford, i wanted to ask you about syria and russia. are you concerned that the russians may stand aside and let the syrians move chemical weapons capability into the area for what everyone agrees is an upcoming assault? can you tell us what the u.s. may be doing to pressure the russians to keep the syrians from doing that? for general dunford, according to a news agency in iran, the guard corps said iran had full control of the gulf and the u.s. navy does not belong anymore in the persian gulf. i wonder if you have a response for the iranian revolutionary guard. sec. mattis: on the chemical weapons, you have seen our administration act twice on the use of typical weapons. your question goes to the heart of the issue. i assure you the department of state has been an active communication, recent active communication with russia to enlist them in preventing this. i will leave it at that for now. the communication is going on. gen. dunford: for decades, our forces have been postured in the gulf to ensure freedom of navigation and we will c

could we get the general's thoughts on this as well? gen. dunford: what i would say is that we are permanent interest in south asia, diplomatic and security. we will maintain a presence in that region's. the diplomatic and security, and the form will change over time. a few years ago, we had 100,000 u.s. or cyst in afghanistan, and say we have 14,000. there will be a permanent diplomatic mission in afghanistan and permanent lannett present across south asia. -- permanent security presence across south asia. she asked my question. >> it was so there's no longer nuclear threat from north korea. does the pentagon share that assessment? sec. mattis: you are asking for a straightforward answer on a complex subject. the bottom line is, there was progress made in the whole world saw that progress when the two leaders sat down. we also knew very clearly this was going to be a long and challenging effort to negotiate this away. as you know, the war began in 1950 and has never ended. we are engaged in a process and we stay with a diplomatically led process. d

all of your senior leadership, general dunford, general milley, these are not spring chickens. they are from a different generation. are you saying changes among those ranks at all course is a coming up in the and below the millennials? >> guest: i think there is a generational shift and i will say that i've talked to a lot of young marines whether they were sergeants are captains, lieutenants, and i think there is a shift. the problem is that when you have come when you recruit a lot of your officers at lund marines from the bible belt, as the marine corps does, those individuals come into the service with more traditional views about the roles women should have. that influences everything else that happens. i believe general miller has good intentions. i think he does want women to succeed but i think there are a lot of people around him who come from that traditional background who are not willing to give the opportunities to win because of a fear that they will feel. that sex is at its worst. i think there's change coming but the problem is when the culture indoctrinate you

i would like to thank general dunford, general miller, admiral engel, vicegeneral admiral ray, thank all for your leadership. you are magnificent. we appreciate it very much. thank you. [applause] thank you. you to theial thank commanding general of the 10th mountain division, major general walter yet. what a special man. walt, i want to thank you. where is walt? where is walt? walt, thank you very much. thank you. [applause] soilis back on american after deployment in iraq and i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect. great admiration and respect for you, walt. i had a chance to meet division command sergeant major jason roe arc, along with 10th mountain division soldier of the year michael. where is michael? soldier of the year. michael? [applause] pretty good. that soldier of the year, michael, out of how many? how many? that is a lot of soldiers. 18,000? do you want to work for me? thank you, michael. great job. for today'sbe here ceremony without the dedicated efforts of the members of congress who work so hard to defense national authorization act. i would l

we recognize early this was as general dunford was conducting his own test to see how well men and women could perform with each other in ground combat roles. we knew he did not want women to go into these roles but we were showing they could shoot can be tough and strong and not rake and compete he was showing the opposite with this task force and those two things started to collide in march 2015i went 2015 i went to my husband's retirement general dunford was the presiding officer we were sitting in his office with my in-laws and the general said how is everything going at parris island? i was briefed and i leaned i leaned over and said everything is amazing you should see what we're we are doing on the rifle range we are getting ready when that ban is lifted he leaned forward and looked at me and said oh no kate. we are not ready for that. the the alarm started to go off i think we are ahead of the power curve. >> you had a statement very clearly in the book chapter to flat out you see the marine corps leadership did not want women in the infantry and as the most elite branch could no

heard for several months now that if there are small skirmishes still going on especially if you general dunford what what is the commission's pacifically now for those troops anything beyond the counter isolation and what else do you need from really the nonmilitary side of the center for rebuilding and reconstructing those areas and for getting to that getting back on the path to geneva and we're not hearing much about making sure i can start with that i think you know that there's one major area in the middle euphrates river valley that still has a significant isis presence so in the near term working with us or in democratic forces working to clear that one remaining year of the euphrates river valley but what's really important and i mentioned it briefly my opening statement is training the security forces necessary to stay. those areas that have already been cleared of isis and that is that is going to take some time to do that with with regard to the importance of stabilization funding that is very important that's why secretary pompei has been engaging with regional actors other regional

i want to thank general dunford general miller. general goldfein.nk you all for your leadership you are a magnificent. we appreciate it very much thank you. a very special thank you. what a special man. walt is back on american soil after deployment in iraq. and i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect i just had the chance to meet [applause]. please come here lease. >> think you mister president. it's truly an honor to welcome you to the historic a

[applause] i want to thank general dunford, general neller, admiral richardson, general golfond.ou for your leadership. you're magnificent. we appreciate it. thank you. [applause] a very special thank you to the commanding general, the tenth mountain division. major general walt pia. what a special man. i want to thank you, walt. where's walt? thank you very much. thank you. [applause] walt is back on american soil after deployment in iraq. i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect. they have great admiration and respect for you. thank you very much. i just met division sergeant major jason walt. and michael lima. soldier of the year. where is michael? [applause] pretty good. that soldier of the year, michael, out of how many? how many? that's a lot of soldiers. 18,000. want to work for me? thank you, michael. great job. we would not be here for today's signing ceremony without the dedicated efforts of the members of congress that work so hard to pass the national defense authorization act. i'd like to recognize congresswoman elise steffanek who's district incl

i want to thank general dunford, general millie, general neller, admiral richardson, general gold finel engle, and vice admiral ray. thank you all for your leadership. you are magnificent. we appreciate it very much. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] a very special thank you to the commanding general of the 10th mountain definition, major general walt piyat. what a special man. walt, i want to thank you. where is walt? where is walt? walt, thank you very much. thank you. thank you. [ applause ] walt is back on american soil after deployment in iraq. and i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect. they have great, great admiration and respect for you, walt. thank you very much. i also just had the chance to meet division command sergeant major jason roork along with 10th mountain division soldier of the year, michael lima. where is michael? where is michael? soldier of the year. michael. [ applause ] pretty good. and that soldier of the year, michael, out of how many? how many? that's a lot of soldiers. 18,000? do you want to work for me? thank you michael. great job.

i want to thank general dunford, general millie, general kneller, admiral richardson, general goldfeinvice admiral wray. a very special thank you to the commanding general, the 10th mountain division. congresswoman mauther-mcsally. thank you. >> that was president trump just a few minutes ago thanking a laundry list of people before signing the john mccain national defense authorization act. one person who wasn't on that list of people that he thanked? outspoken trump critic and the name sake of the bill, senator john mccain. the decorated war hero, was a prisoner of war. the bill the president signed, the john s. mccain national defense authorization act. no mention of him by the president today. today mccain issued a statement saying i'm huggabled my colleagues in congress chose to designate this bill in my name. one person who was clearly thinking of him in the ceremony, his wife cindy mccain tweeting i'm so proud of senator john mccain and his work on ndaa. incredibly humbled and since president trump would not do it, let us hear on "the lead" congratulate senator mccain and the fa

i want to thank general dunford, general millie, general neller, admiral richardson, general goldfeingeneral engall and vice admiral ray. thank you all for your leadership. you're magnificent. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. a very special thank you to the commanding general of the tenth mountain division, major general walt piett. what a special man. walt, i want to thank you. where is walt? where is walt? wallet, thank you very much. thank you: walt is back on american soil after deployment in iraq, and i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect. i have great, great admiration and respect for you, walt, thank you very much. i also had the chance to meet division command sergeant major jason rork, along with tenth mountain division soldier of the year, michael lima. where is michael? soldier of the year. michael. pretty good. and that's soldier of the year, michael, out of how many? how many? that's a lot of soldiers. 18,000. you want to work for me? thank you, michael. that's a great job. we would not be here for today's signing ceremony without the dedi

it's not necessarily merit taste entirely so this new leadership in the marine corps general dunford and general geller. they are from a different generation. are you seeing changes and seeing coming up in the and simple loan the money host on the gen x'ers? >> guest: i think there is a generational shift and i will say i have talked to a lot of young marines were that they were sergeants are captains lieutenant and i think there's a shift that the problem is when you recruit a lot of your officers and a lot of your marines from the bottom up as the marine corps does those individuals come into service with more traditional views about the roles women should have and that influences everything else that happens. i believe general miller has good intentions. i think he really does want women to succeed in their a lot of people around him who come from that traditional background who are not willing to give opportunities to women because they are scared that they were will fail. i think there is change coming. the problem is when the culture indoctrinates you into this environment where

now, the chairman of the joint chiefs, general dunford isn't going to say things publicly. all the people still on active duty will maintain their silence, and of course, they'll do their duty. but when you have a man of the prestige and accomplishment of bill mccraven willing to go public like this, i think we'll see others following suit as well. >> in an op ed for the new york times brennan is responding to having his clearance pulled and the president's claims of no collusion. and here is what he wrote in part here. he said mr. trump's claims of no collusion are in a word, hogwash. the only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy. whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy and how many members of trump incorporated attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets. mr. trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke

i want to thank general dunford, general millie, general in neller, general fogoldfein.l would not be here for today's signing ceremony without the dedicated efforts of the members of congress who worked so hard to pass the national defense authorization act. >> missing from that list, of course, is the president mentioning the very person for who the bill is named for, senator john mccain, former p.o.w., war hero, the john mccain battling brain cancer. here is a look at the front page of the legislation. there is senator mccain's name pretty far down in the small print. the president headed for another political rally, this on behalf of a new york congresswoman. didn't say senator mccain's name at the rally. he also didn't miss a chance to take a dig at senator mccain, referencing his no vote on the bill. >> one of our wonderful senators said thumbs-down at two income the morning. >> joining me former trump campaign aide michael caputo and kirsten powers. good to have you both on. kirsten, the fact that the president didn't say mccain's name though he had multiple oppor

at 10:00 a.m., a pentagon briefing with james mattis and joint use chair general joseph dunford. at 2:30 p.m., senate commerce audimmittee hearing on blooms in the u.s. waters. on c-span3 begin at 9:00 a.m., the white house historical situations -- associations site summit. looking at how we think of presidents over time. former white, the house executive pastry chef also speaks at the event. coming up, national association education president. she will talk about the trump administration's consideration of the proposal that will harm teachers in schools

i want to thank general dunford, general millie, general kneller, admiral richardson, general admiral your leadership. you are a magnificent. we appreciate it very much, thank you. thank you. [applause] a very special thank you to the commanding general of the 10th , major generalon walter yet -- piat. what a special man. walt, i want to thank you. thank you very much. thank you. [applause] back on american soil after deployment in iraq, and i just want to welcome you home. you have tremendous respect. they have great tremendous respect for you, thank you very much. i just got the chance to meet sergeant major jason ross, along with the 10th mountain division soldier of the year, michael lima. where is he? soldier of the year. michael? [applause] pretty good. that is soldier of the year out of how many? how many? that is a lot of soldiers. 18,000. do you want to work for me? [laughter] thank you, michael. great job. we would not be here for the signing ceremony today without the dedicated efforts of the members of congress who work so hard to pass the national defense authorization ac

including joint chiefs of chair general joseph dunford, who said mccain exemplified what it meant to be a war rrior and dedicated public servant. we'll see senators walk in shortly. they're gathering on the senate floor now, led by majority leader mitch mcconnell, who served for years, for decades, with john mccain. vice president and mrs. pence will also be arriving shortly. take a look now. senator john mccain traveling to the capitol one last time. let me bring in kelly o'donnell, joining me here live. who are you seeing? who are you talking to? >> reporter: well, this is so far been a day where there is the community of the capitol, which is something that living here and covering this place, we understand, but it may not be as well-known around the country. the u.s. capitol is, in many ways, like a college campus. it is a city within the city. today is a chance for the people who work here, from staff members who are in the political realm, to the staff that carries out the operations of the capitol, those are not political jobs, to pay their respects. today, it is notable that

on c-span, a pentagon briefing with defense secretary james mattis and joint chiefs chair general joseph dunford. senate commerce subcommittee hearing on the dangers of out-of-control algae blooms. on c-span2, the u.s. senate returns for work on executive and judicial nominations. c-span3 getting at 9:00 a.m., the white house historical associations presidential site summit with a panel of historians looking at how we think of presidents changes over time. p.m., the former white house executive chef speaks of the event. mccain diedtor john saturday after a battle with brain cancer. he was 81. his senate colleagues paid tribute to him on the senate floor. remarks started with senate leaders mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer. on saturday evening, a great loss echoed throughout our country. six decades of patriotic service came to an end. we suspected for some time that we'd bid farewell to our colleague, the senior senator from arizona, john mccain. john took full advantage of the months since his diagnosis. his hard work continued. but happy reminiscing, fond farewells, final reflections, and tim

he was joined by the chairman of the joint chiefs, marine general joe dunford. togeer, they fielded questio on severalopics, including yemen, north korea, and the trans-atlantic alliance. meantime, there renewed concern about that time-tested alliance in europe, voiced by top leaders ere. our nick schifrin was at the pentagon this morning, and jns me now to discuss all this. nick, welcome. so let's start with yettn. secretary did talk about the u.s. backing of this saudi-led coalition, going after the houthi rebels in yemen. how did he talk about thand what hid he say about the criticism that saudis are killing innocent people? >> there is a lot ofci cri, and he was in part responding to the u.n. report that came out today that accuses the saudi-led rialition of abusing international humaghts, humanitarian and even international criminal laws. the report accses the u.led coalition of targeting civilian targets. with all that criticismer which is echoed by some people here on capitol hill and even inside dod, there's a lot of questions about what the u.s. is doin

at 10:00 a.m., a pentagon briefing with james mattis and joint use chair general joseph dunford. at 2:30 p.m., senate commerce audimmittee hearing on blooms in the u.s. waters. on c-span3 begin at 9:00 a.m., the white house historical situations -- associations site summit. looking at how we think of presidents over time. former white, the house executive pastry chef also speaks at the event. coming up, national association education president. she will talk about the trump administration's consideration of the proposal that will harm teachers in schools, standardizing testing, school funding, and education policy. bradley smith, former federal election chair on michael laws. ♪ host: good morning. 28, 2018.day, august the senate is back and session today. the house will hold a pro forma session at noon. we begin today exactly one week out from the start of supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh's confirmation hearings. this morning, we want to hear what your message would be to your senators if you had the chance to talk to them about brett kavanaugh. give us a call. republicans c

more, president trump at a white house event turned to chairman of the joint chiefs joe dunford and said, general, i want a space force. can you go make that happen? and i want to give president trump credit. it's a big idea, it's a good kind of idea for a president to have. it's a good debate to have. but as i think president trump may have learned since that statement, he doesn't get to make this decision quite that that's by himself and, in fact, we're here today to join some additional voices to this process. the congress has been considering the idea, has shown some interest in the idea but reluctance to create a space force immediately, i think it's safe to say, and we'll hear more about that in the course of the conversation. just another word or two of brief introduction from me, and then i'll introduce the panelists, and we'll just have a few rounds of conversation amongst ourselves before going to you roughly halfway through for q&a. so that's the basic format. as you know, the united states has four military services within the department of defense plus one more, the coast guard, in t

general joseph dunsford holding a briefing praising john mccain. jennifer griffin is live at the pentagon. what did mattis and dunford say?it's interesting to watch the heartfelt tributes from capitol hill and hear lindsey graham speak about his friend, john mccain. no senator spent more time in the war zone than john mccain and no center held this building, the pentagon, more accountable than john mccain as chairman of the armed services committee. today here at the pentagon in a rare press briefing, both defense secretary jim mattis and chairman of the joint chiefs paid a heartfelt tribute. >> our military has lost one of our most ardent supporters. >> as a naval officer, he was an advocate for the men and women of the u.s. military. while we mourn his passing, we'll be grateful for his distinguished service and his courageous example. >> president trump is sending mattis, john bolton and general john kelly to represent him at mccain's funeral service saturday. neither the president, nor the first lady plan to attend, dana. >> dana: getting back to business, which is what mccain would want us to do. what did mattis say