all except to say that i think a lot of reporting focused on syria and particular disagreements jim mattis with the president, i think the impression i got from mattis and i gather that's what people get from this piece is he had much more fundamental doubts about this president's fitness to govern really. he thought he had done a lot of good in helping steer policy in the right direction, prevent an awful lot of things from happening that shouldn't have happened, prevent illegalities. also we talked about the policies going in the right direction, others not so much. but the degree to which someone like secretary mattis is looking ahead. we have donald trump only for these four years but i think he feels an obligation to weigh in. we all face a big decision over the next few months in the republican primary and the democratic primary and general election. and i think jim mattis is telling us what he thinks about the possibility of another four years for donald trump. >> and i think this is put in mattis language as strong as it gets for him. not a democrat or republican. i think he is a n

he spent many hours over the summer with retired general jim mattis who served as president trump's secretaryrine describes his decision to resign saying, quote, i had no choice but to leave. jeffrey writes, quote, mattis often seemed burdened in his role. his aides and friends say he found the president to be of limited cognitive ability and generally dubious character. an understatement. he goes on to describe when mattis stepped down over the decision to pull american troops from syria. mattis told the president, you're going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to isis, i'm not going to do it. he handed trump his resignation letter and here we are a year or so later with the pentagon telling donald trump that isis is gaining strength. jeffrey, thanks for being with us. i've been curious how forthcoming general mattis was going to be. i've sat with him at dinner before. he's extraordinarily diplomatic, so i didn't expect him to go the full scaramucci, but i was wondering whether he would ease up to the line that robert gates crossed when he actually wrote an autobiography t

>> you know, jim mattis is an eloquent statesman and so this is tough piece. but it's eloquently written as sarah says. and while i think the criticism is pointed, it stops a points. he's not revealing conversations that were private. he's not naming the president. what he's saying is, look, i had a sense of duty, i was there. i believe in certain principles of leadership as the secretary of defense and for our country generally. and when i wasn't being listened to and when my influence waned and when the president went in different directions on key areas that included our allies strategically and how they perceived american power abroad, he had to go. and it's not just about president trump. and he's not the first military leader to point out whether it's areas of our national debt or our politics, start to rank higher as national security threats because as he says in the piece, he's less concerned about our external adverysaries than how divided we are as a country. so it's a powerful statement. we have to see what kind of impact it has. what's clear to me

former defense secretary jim mattis is breaking his silence ennight for the first time since leaving the office in late december. david martin reports mattis has a lot to say about his former boss without calling him out by name. bo reporter: mattis quit as defense secretary right after president trump ignored his advice and ordered u.s. troops out of syria.i could,ttiste in excerpts from his new book "call sign chaos" published in the wall street journal. "when my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, it longer resonated, it was time on resign." just a few months before, he had been a favorite of the president's. >> i think he's a terrific person. he's doing a fantastic job as dcretary of defense. >> reporter: in his resignation letter, mattis referred to his strongly held views on treating allies with respect, an apparent reference to president trump's complaints about the value of bedrock alliances like nato. angered by the blunt letter, the president fired him. >> what's he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. not

it sounds like jim mattis is doing that. >> this is a warning.s is not simply an interesting story but a warning. it's time for 2020. >> laura: he said the iraq war would last 2 or 3 months. okay? sitting among the first thoughts we heard on that new jim mattis book was from bill crystal who is always wrong and never in doubt. the anti-trump zealots were referring to this passage where mattis is writing using every skill i learned during by decades as a marine i did as well as i could for as long as is i could. joining me now is daniel davis and retired army colonel doug mcgregor. what is mattis really trying to do here other than sell his book? >> he is trying to convince the audience he is a heorric figure. it's a tough sell. for 2 years in the administration he did everything to subvert the president. now he is discussing things he talked to the president in confidence about. he is trying to emphasize his courage and devotion. where was that for 18 years of self-defeating warfare that cost trillion dollars and thousands of lives and accomplish

i don't think this is a time for jim mattis fob subtle. this is a time for him to tell the american public that this man is not fit to be president. and i know he probably thinks that's inappropriate for him as a former military leader. and i know he's been marshalling his credibility for his entire life. but this is the time to use it. >> just say that someone asked me once a week why -- same question about george w. bush. where is george w. bush? and i take your point that people who have seen him up close, but you could say the same thing about h.r. mcmaster, rex tillerson has sort of told his story. but why do so many of them stay silent at this point? >> i have no idea. i think a lot of them who think this isn't my fight. or it would be disloyal for me, but your loyalty is not supposed to be the president. it's supposed to be the country. that's who you take the oath to. >> just listening to mattis just there and reading his essay, it reminded me of what republicans used to tell me very early on in this administration, which was don't

that's not enough for jim mattis. he thinks we should have doubled it and things would have worked out. the christians will still have their place in mosul.we wouldn'e crisis. iran would not have pointed those devices our guys stepped on.what about that. >> it is interesting, because normally failed generals point to troops. i didn't have enough soldiers.ie solders, things would have worked out better. this is the first time i have ever heard a general officer say i didn't have enough money.part, if you look at what happened with rumsfeld became the secretary of defense. rumsfeld and bush told the generals you can have as much money as you want. what i can't provide you is hundreds of thousands of additional troops.they said tha. we just don't have them to sends as you want, as much money as you want. no constraint. where does this come from? if anything he had too much money. thoughts a huge part of the problem for us. we had too many people in the military swimming in oceans of cash. you don't have to make hard deci

go to xfinity.com/moving to get started. >>> jim mattis is taking swipes at his former boss.y and adapted from his book called signed chaos learning to lead a role is not sufficient for a leader and he goes on to say when my concrete solutions and strategy advice especially keeping faith with allies no longer resonated, it was time to resign. you may recall what general mattis resigned from the trump administration back in december after clashing with the president over the withdrawal of u.s. troops in syria and afghanistan. joining us now retired admiral john kirby and military and diplomatic analyst that served as press secretary in the obama administration. thanks for being with us. i wonder how you read these words from jim mattis because when i saw them, particularly these two quotes we just read they were not so veiled comments on the president. >> you can take away to some degree, johnny is talking about president trump, they are very much i think in accord with the words he used or at least the tone he took in the resignation letter that he submitted back in january,

help, visit xarelto.com. >>> for the first time since his resignation former defense secretary jim mattislic rebuke of the president's strategy at home and abroad. in a "wall street journal" excerpt from his forthcoming book mattis describes his time within the trump orbit saying i did as well as i could for as long as i could. when my concrete solutions and strategic advice no longer resonated, it was time to resign. the decorated marine general also gave a thinly veiled warning to the president saying, quote, a polepicist's role is not sufficient for a leader. joining me is retired four star general and nbc news political analyst barry mccaffrey. i've been thinking a lot about what he said which is i did as well as i could for as long as i could. it's not like he is somebody who has shied away from difficult things. before becoming defense secretary he was the respected head of centcom, served in the persian gulf war, iraq war, led the first marine division during the early stages of the iraq war overseeing the advance in marine corps history. so i thought to myself when i read that quo

jim mattis couldn't. he decided to resign and leave. he has to decide how silent -- how long he wants to be silent. i think the fundamental question right now for him and for others who are deciding whether they want to speak out is their silence actually perceived to be acquiescence to what the trump administration is doing? and maybe that's one of the key questions he's addressing. >> you don't endanger the country by attacking the elected commander in chief. i may not like a commander in chief one freaking bit, but our system puts the commander in chief there. general hertling, i'll pose this question to you. does he owe his duty to the president now to be silent? or does he owe a duty to the american people to tell us what he really thinks? >> i'm going answer that, john, by saying he owes his duty to the constitution. and this is a constitutionally elected president. and the people that he used to serve in the defense department. i'm going to add a couple more words that are a part, i'm sure, of the consideration by mattis. loyalty

jim mattis says that leadership requires collaboration.s clearly something that donald trump has not learned. >> wendy sherman, as always, thank you so very much and victor, your analysis and your breakthroughs are so profoundly important, thank you. >> thank you. >>> and coming up, dreading dorian, as puerto rico continues to recover, tries to recover from hurricane maria. residents there are now bracing for yet another storm, one that's expected to pick up strength and speed in the next 24 hours. we'll have a live report next. stay with us. >>> a new advisory from the national hurricane center says that tropical storm dorian could potentially hit florida on monday as a category 3 hurricane. meanwhile puerto rico now is bracing for a direct hit from the tropical storm which is gaining strength in the caribbean. it's the first major storm it-to-hit the island since the devastation of hurricane maria two years ago. a massive category 4 hurricane that killed some 3,000 people, causing billions of dollars in damages. nearly 30,000 homes still

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jim mattis speaking out for the first time since resigning in protest from the trump cabinet.to him next on "andrea mitchell reports," on msnbc. take prilosec otc and take control of heartburn. so you don't have to stash antacids here... here... or, here. kick your antacid habit with prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. (announcer) important message for women and men ages 50 to 85. right now, in areas like yours, people have already called about life insurance through the colonial penn program and received their free beneficiary planner. have you received your free planner? if not, i encourage you to pick up the phone and take advantage of this free offer. in addition to your free beneficiary planner, you'll also receive free information on affordable whole life insurance that has a lifetime rate lock that guarantees your rate can never increase for any reason. if you did not receive your free beneficiary planner, call this number now. please stand by to learn more. i'm alex trebek, here to tell you about a popular life insurance plan with a rate lock that l

>> well, jim mattis is an old friend of mine of decades-long standing, and i really admire him, and ioblems, we can deal with anything as long as we can get together and deal with it. but right now i think the environment in washington is just tribal toxicity on steroids. now, aye spent the -- i've spent the last year thinking about this stuff, and i've written a book which'll come out in the winter, but it's to talk about why have we gotten to this point. is there something different about america today? i don't think so. i think we go through these political revolutions every 40 years, and they're caustic, and we get at each other's throats. sometimes we even fight each other in the streets. but at the end of the day, somebody wins, somebody loses, and then we go on, and i think that's how we recreate ourselves. is so as miserable as this is, and jim mattis is right -- the biggest threat right now is what's happening inside of washington, d.c -- but at the end of the day, i think the people prevail. guy: well, i hope you're right. very excited to hear more about that book. thank you

the last example, jim mattis.a disagreement with donald trump regarding withdrawing troops from syria, jim mattis resigned and in a scalding letter the next day, he could not serve a president whose foreign policy in this regard he did not believe in. those are high profile examples. this is a president who probably sends 25 tweets a day on average, thinks 500 things, and if it you're one of his aids, you have to figure out, is he serious about buying greenland. does he know denmark currently owns greenland? does he know it's not currently for sale? you have to sift through that. >> we'll talk before that next hour, thank you very much. >>> in a couple hours, el paso will honor the life of margie record. the tribute including all these flowers are flowing in from around the world. let's see, aleve is proven better on pain than tylenol extra strength. and last longer with fewer pills. so why am i still thinking about this? i'll take aleve. aleve. proven better on pain. >>> nearly two weeks after the el paso walmart

. >> dana: today's briefing comes as jim mattis opened up about why he left. have more on that in a moment. joining me is jack keane, fox news senior strategic analyst. it's good to hear from the pentagon. it's not a surprise, i imagine, to you, general, that mark esper decides to open up, talking about china as a threat. >> absolutely. first of all, i'm delighted that we're having press conferences again. i think it was a mistake to have given up on those. i really believe the pentagon has to answer to the american people and they should do that, take questions from the press. listen, china is clearly our number one threat out there. it's growing every single day. economic predators, which we're very familiar with. we're constantly talking about it on fox. they're all involved in the most rapid military expansion of any nation in the world. they have gone past us in terms of the number of ships in their navy by far. they have a greater military presence in the pacific than the united states has right now. and also their geo political expansion is very signifi

former defense secretary jim mattis is warning that bitter political divisions have pushed american societye breaking point. in an excerpt from his upcoming book published by the "wall street journal" today, the retired marine general says he quit the trump administration in 2018 when he realized his advice to the president, quote, no longer resonated. he signed shortly after mr. trump announced he's pulling all u.s. troops from syria. western troops are combing through an apartment building after a gas explosion caused it to collapse. at least two people dead, seven others, including children, have been injured. the tennessee valley authority long respected for providing good jobs and c

what jim did is circumspect as he has been, is classic jim mattis. en he and the president elect were standing on the doorstep there at bedminster and i had two thoughts. thank god that jim is going to take this job on as secretary of defense, but it won't last. jim is a man of principle. and he stayed as he said. he did as well as he could for as long as he could. truth in advertising, he's a friend and someone i greatly admire. >> on the subject of it won't last, in the same interview we're talking about, general mattis says, quote, there is a period in which i owe meisei lens. it's not eternal. it's not going to be forever. so when do you think this grace period might end for him? >> you know, i don't know, john. and i thought that statement was very intriguing. i think jim is -- not to be an amateur psychologist here, but internally conflicted. i would be very surprised if he doesn't speak out more explicitly about the president as the election draws nigh. i can't put, obviously, a date and time. but i think we'll hear more from jim and i hope we

that would be striking if people who worked in senior positions, maybe gary cohn or jim mattis, not sayingone told me they would do this, that type of person says something like that. i think scaramucci's on to something and that's different for people like me who had never been okay with trump, i took my shot, i did the best, i think he's done good things but no second term. >> here's the analysis again citing maggie haberman. the number of people who supported trump in 2016 when he faces multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and the judge questioned a number of things and said any number of controversial things whose campaign was played by a leak, in order to say they would break with him is something. point being it's hard to see what the change is they're referring to that precipitated the break that now is a problem but wasn't back then. that analysis seems like a did question. >> can i say something? he's been president three years. it's not so crazy to think november 9, whatever the day was, 2016, maybe he will change. maybe these things we thought were disqualifying shouldn't h

ending his silence after breaking with the president, former defense secretary jim mattis says the u.s. can't go it alone. only on cbs, the c.e.o. of the top-selling e-cigarette companyr of lung disease cases linked to vaping. federal agents raid the home off investigation of union corruption. ( explosion ) holly williams has an exclusive look inside syria where families dig their own shelters to escape attacks from their own government.

nowadays for the corps now to totally cause i mean they haven't been tough day for jim mattis way when he woke up cold sweat and realized trump wasn't killing enough people for him and then he just became overcome with guilt because he knew when his in his heart of hearts that he could be doing more harm in the private sector. you know finally jimmy mattis has gotten back to his true passion making millions of dollars helping to blow up children and we should always celebrate when someone leaves the american dream and gets to pursue their passion although it looks like one american dream might not come true the dream of the d.n.c. to blame their pathetic losses on julian assange and wiki leaks judge john cole of the us dick district court of front of salt and delivered a devastating blow to the u.s. led conspiracy against wiki leaks founder julian assange a civil lawsuit filed in april 28th by the d.n.c. alleged wiki leaks was simply liable for conspiring with the russian government to steal d.n.c. emails and data and leak them to the public the judge said if wiki leaks could be held l

. >>> former defense secretary jim mattis has declared war on the toxic politics that he says could destroyracy. the retired marine general doesn't mention president trump by name, but the target seems clear. david martin has his story. >> reporter: mattis quit as defense secretary right after president trump ignored his advice and ordered u.s. troops out of syria. "i did as well as i could for as long as i could," mattis writes in excerpts from his new book "call sign chaos" published in "the wall street journal." "when my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies no longer resonated, it was time to resign." just a few months before, he had been a favorite of the president's. >> i think he is a terrific person. he is doing a fantastic job as secretary of defense. >> reporter: in his resign strongly held views on treating with respect. apparent reference to president trump's complaints about the angered by the blunt letter, the president fired him. >> what's he done for me? how has he done in afghanistan? not too good. not too good. >> reporter: the r

mark: jim mattis warns that political divisions have forced american society to what he calls a breakingin an served from his upcoming book, the retired marine general says that he quit the trump when heration in 2018 realized that his advice to the president "no longer resident -- resonated." it appears the new governor -- government in italy will be headed by the five-star movement and center led democrats who are headed for a deal following days of stop and go negotiations. also in italy, the stromboli volcano has a rugged, spewing chunks of lava onto the island off the coast of sicily. officials say that today's strong explosion sent while the rolling down the slopes of the volcano. a similar corruption in july killed an italian hiker. it is one of three active volcanoes in italy. more than 20,000 people are pelting each other with ripe tomatoes in the annual street battle of eastern span. 145 tons art -- of tomatoes are tossed in the event, a major tourist attraction. inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the tomato producing region. looks like fridays in the co

>> shep, former defense secretary jim mattis quit when the president announced that he was pulling alls out of syria. breaking his silence, mattis addressed his decision in an except from his upcoming back. he said -- >> his successor, mark esper, would not weigh-in on mattis saying the internal divisiveness posed the greatest threat to american democracy. chairman dunford a month from retirement, went a step further. >> i will not now, nor will i take off the uniform make judgments about the president of the united states. i won't do it. >> mattis and general dunford served in concert together as u.s. marines. shep? >> shepard: we reported the concern about a new north korean sub. what are you learning about that? >> in his first press conference as secretary, mark esper was asked about north korea's new weapons and recent missile tests. >> we're concerned about their short range ballistic missile tests. we want to understand what they're doing and why they're doing it. on the other hand, we won't overreact. we'll take a measured response and make sure we don't close the door to diplo

former secretary of defense jim mattis and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general joe dunford, several years ago said in order to implement the 2018 national defense strategy, the department of defense base budget needed to grow by roughly 3% to 5% in inflation-adjusted terms each year. so the test is simple. let's look at the budget and see whether or not it provides 3% to 5% real growth. if it does, it passes. so my assessment is that the 2020 budget passes the topline test in spirit. let me explain what i mean by that. the request actually contained 2.4% real growth, and the july budget deal actually provided about 1.9% real growth. so those numbers are obviously less than 3%, so that would seem to suggest it failed the test. but the math works out such that if you shifted $7 billion from the overseas contingency operation budget to the base budget, that would increase the real growth percentage up to that 3% threshold and, therefore, it would pass the test. in my judgment and in the judgment of, i think, most defense analysts, a large portion of the funding contained in th

former secretary of defense jim mattis out with a new book, he made his case for keeping troops in syriajected his arguments 30 minutes into the conversation, he told the president you are going to have to get the next secretary of defense to lose to isis, he handed trump his resignation letter. a detailed piece in the atlantic is a former secretary has a book coming out. >> this president was elected for his dramatically different foreign policy. he made some promises that the war in afghanistan will end, he appears to be backtracking on that, that is a huge break with what he said. he also said he opposed our involvement in syria and he has repeatedly said that over time. one of the things that came out one james mattis did resign, many months prior, he said he wanted a six month plan to get out of syria but when that time had expired, there was still no plan to get out of syria. james mattis is an honorable general but he is not the president. if the president gets to set foreign policy and every president deserves a secretary of defense who will follow through with commitments made.

i think an awful lot of people who know jim mattis think he is, you know -- he had never really was ableo fully disguise his uncomfortableness at times in dealing with president trump. he never wanted to talk about it. and, you know, officially he still says he's not going to talk about the president. but if you ran into mattis around the hallways of the pentagon where he used to walk around, it was not a stretch to see that there were things that really concerned him and things that made him uncomfortable, and, yes, the issue that finally made him feel he had to resign was when the president wanted to withdraw all u.s. troops from syria and mattis felt that would be leaving u.s. allies that they had backed in syria leaving them behind and that's his ultimate lesson of leadership you don't leave anybody behind. that's the thing that made him feel he had to leave. >> in the politic piece jeffrey goldberg wrote this, his aides and friends said found the photo be of limited cognitive ability and dubious character and mattis wouldn't go there himself in his conversations with goldberg. he's

if you thought jim mattis was going to stay silent, think again.news conference by a secretary of defense and chairman of the joint chiefs in a year. on the same day the last secretary of defense james mattis penned a dire warning in a preview of his upcoming book published in the "wall street journal" writing what concerns me most as a military man is not our external adversaries. it is our internal divisiveness. we are dividing into hostile tribes, cheering against each other fueled by emotion and a mutual disdain that jeopardizes our future. >> things can change. >> mattis never directly criticizes president trump. but cautions leaders must do more than launch verbal attacks. but at a private 2017 meeting with troops recorded only by cell phone, mattis did more than hint at his views about the state of the nation. >> got you know it and i know it. it's got problems that we don't have in the military. and you just homd the line, my fine young soldiers, sailors with be airman, marines. >> general joseph dunford, the top military advise dw and matt

>> jim mattis was very direct in his comments about a country that fails to build allies and alliancesand that the great strength of america in the past is that we've always fought alongside our allies. we've always worked with alliances to try to protect our security and their security as well. and he makes the point that if we don't do that then we're going to be alone in the world. and what the president's obviously doing with this kind of america first attitude is to go out and criticize our allies, criticize our alliances, and in doing so he not only isolating our country, i think he makes us weaker as a nation. >> the trump administration, secretary, is making it more difficult for children of u.s. service members and u.s. government employees living abroad to automatically become u.s. citizens. this is according to a memo released today by the u.s. citizenship and immigration services. it appears to be targeting the children of naturalized u.s. citizens. what do you think about this? >> i think it's -- it's -- it's not only a terrible idea, it goes against everything that this c

in the wake of bashar al assad using chemical weapons against his own people, trump said to jim mattis, at the time again the former defense secretary. we need to kill him, we need to assassinate bashar al assad. we don't usually do that as a country. >> let's go to the last one. we know this, this happened. jim comey testified in front of congress. a former fbi director, comey said in a private meeting, trump urged him to see if he could drop this investigation into michael flynn in this context with the russians. again not something that comey felt comfortable doing. >> you mentioned pardons, how trump has floated them dangled them. 15 trump 35rdens. these three, we didn't put them all on the screen. look at these three. these three are all very conservative caused pardons. all people that trump's base really liked and wanted pardons, and he did it. there's some precedent for this. even if he doesn't say i'll pardon you, he could say, look at who i pardoned in the past, dot dot dot, that's where it gets concerning. this is a president who, if he knows where the line is, likes to walk

lasers, cyber offensive and defensive capabilities and certainly exploring opportunities in space, jim mattisinly helped accelerate the pentagon's research and development in those areas, no question about it. he presided over one of the largest -- the largest ever historical budget that dod has ever been presented, more than $700 billion. it's also fair to say that some of that progress had been going on before he got there. there had been a lot of attention over the last 18 years in the war on terrorism, afghanistan and pakistan. so he did reorient the military toward threats like russia and china. >> rear admiral john kirby, thank you for your expertise. >> you bet. >>> tropical storm dorian closing in on puerto rico as it makes its way toward the united states, mainland united states. the national weather service will release its latest update any moment. >>> plus in a rare moment today, the united kingdom, what some are calling outrageous, why the queen approved the suspension of parliament at the new prime minister boris johnson's request. are we supposed to dance? ♪ boy bands without d

only jim mattis knows whether and when he'll ever break his silence and talk more candidly.it's a very personal decision when you're a cabinet official. when you leave office, about whether you're going to write a memoire or not. how canned it are you going to be about the administration you left? some are very candid and bob gates when he was secretary of defense wrote a candid memoire. i've worked for cabinet officials who choose to do it and i've worked for some who chose not to. one of them in fact a couple of years ago told me not only am i not going to write a memoir, but i don't think that i'm making my successor's job any easier by being out in the media space. it's a personal decision. i know we all would like to hear more from secretary mattis about his time working for president trump, but we need to respect his own prerogatives. it's not an obligation that he has to tell all. he has an opportunity to do that to the degree that he's comfortable with, and i think, knowing secretary mattis the way i do, that you're not going to see him open up very much over time, e

david, as a retired marine yourself, reading the excerpt from the book by former defense secretary jim mattisrites, you know, about his decision to accept the job and why he resigned. at first he says, you know, my career in the marines brought me to that moment and prepared me to say yes to a job of that magnitude. but then later, while he is the defense secretary, he reveals in this excerpt, when my concrete solutions and strategic advice, especially keeping faith with our allies, no longer resonated, it was time to resign. so talk to me about this great discipline to duty that he exhibited, wrote about, and then all of that, you know, dedication and duty now being overridden by disappointment, almost a realization. can you identify with what it is that he is maybe talking about? >> i certainly can. as you noted, i served in the trump administration for eight months at the beginning with all the best intentions. for me personally, it became clear that i wasn't in sync and could no longer continue in that role. i decided to leave. everybody has that personal decision to make. secretary matti

with president trump on the world stage and they would tell me, we do sleep better knowing that jim mattistter at night. a lot of republicans -- i've seen republican senators concerned very often over the last 2 1/2 years, but never -- but one of the definite points of concern was when mattis resigned. senate mantle leader mitch mcconnell at the time had a stark statement. he said he was distressed that mattis was leaving sunday and those conditions and i think republicans will read that essay excerpt today and say this is why we had been concerned. this is the really private and sometimes public concerns they've had about president trump for some time. >> like many foreign military leaders who are not allowed to say anything about politics and then are allowed to do so, particularly after they, in this case he leaves the administration, he goes there on politics. he says all americans need to recognize that our democracy is an experiment and one that can be reversed. we all know that we're better than our current politics. tribalism must not be allowed to destroy our experiment. >> he rea

is he the only adult if the room now that jim mattis is gone?olicy establishment told me pompeo has reached out. his private, much less combative, much less will to talk to critics of the president, talking to democrats and members of the republican establishment who are never trumpers, who tobt lidon't like trump in private. is he the adult in the room or conversely the most conservative idealogically driven secretary of state we've had in modern times. that's a real division, goes to lack of transparency of the administration. look, this is a guy we just don't know very much about. he's rewritten his biography several times. >> literally. literally taken stuff out of his biography before key moments in his career. >> i'm just wondering, john, why did you leave out the last line. >> you can read it if you want to. >> where they describe what body part mike pompeo seeks out of the president. on that note, i'll leave that as a tease. everybody should read the fantastic profile. it is in the august 26th edition of the new yorker. susan, thank you

. >> you know, the departure of jim mattis as well. >> andrea, one last point, just we already have withdrawnps that were there at one time. i commanded that mission as supreme allied commander of nato i had 150,000 troops. we are now down to 15,000 troops and that stabilizing force needs to stay at least for the foreseeable future. >> thanks for your expertise. >>> those scrambling to get on the debate stage, including bill de blasio juggling his campaign and his day job. we'll talk about both coming up. stay with us. we'll talk about both coming up. stay with us but what i do count on... is boost® delicious boost® high protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals. boost® high protein. be up for life. announcer: fidelity is redefining value with zero account fees for brokerage accounts. and zero minimums to open an account. at fidelity those zeros really add up. ♪ maybe i'll win ♪ saved by zero i mean, if you haven't thought abfrankly, you're missing out. uh... the mobile app makes it easy to manage your policy, even way out here. your mars

this past week got a permanent defense secretary, that job was -- two actings since december since jim mattis left. this has been a real challenge for this administration, for this president. >> it sure has. thank you for rushing out to the set for this breaking news. kelly o'donnell, thank you for breaking it in realtime on air. and jeff mason and sarah mcgregor, i want to reset with both of you because we started off talking about trade, before the breaking news. the president right now announcing a deal with the european union on u.s. beef exports. but the much bigger news continues to be this escalating trade war delve into that just little bit. this is a threat by the president. he's saying i'm going to impose these new tariffs against china next month. do you expect this to really happ happen. >> we heard from larry kudlow today who said there's a bit of time here. and it looks like the trump administration is holding out hope that china is going to follow through on more agriculture purchases. why is it so important to the trump administration? one, trump has said he's going to sort of

were to hear this assessment from former trump administration officials like former secretary, jim mattis or intelligence director, dan coats, somebody who's worked in a high level position with them, that might be a different story, but until then, it's got to be viewed with some degree of skepticism. >> bill crystal, the antitrump pundit, and long time conservative has confirmed he has spoken with scaramucci trying to find another presidential candidate to help replace trump at the top of the gop ticket. sam, what is the likelihood of a republican primary challenger? >> there is already a republican challenger, bill weld, the former governor of massachusetts, and he has picked up virtually no support from the republican party base. this is trump's party now. and the likelihood that there is going to be a viable republican primary challenger, barring some huge major development is close to nothing, and the institutional party organizations here in washington, the rnc, and those on capitol hill are totally aligned with the president. >> and david, is the president support within the repub

this is the former defense secretary general mattis, jim mattis, in an op-ed in "the wall street journalmost is a military man is not our external adversaries. it is our internal divisiveness. we are dividing into hostile tribes cheering against each other fueled by emotion and mutual disdain. all americans need to recognize that our democracy is an experiment and one that can be reversed. we all know that we are better than our current politics. tribalism must not be allowed to destroy our experiment. big words from general mattis there. let's bring in our panel. byron york, chief political correspondent of the "washington examiner." mollie hemingway, senior editor at "the federalist" and jeff mason, white house corresponded for writers. current secretary said he's going to do these press briefings more regularly, sort of like that defense secretary rumsfeld used to do back in the day. we will see, but on afghanistan, what about what was said? >> well, the first thing to remember is we are in the 18th year in the war in afghanistan. that's just kind of crazy on the face of it. so what y

there are high profile examples from jim mattis to dan coats, to jeff sessions. the list goes on. i think it's just the talent of this administration, finding the kind of talent that it needs and to execute the responsibilities that it needs to. >> we appreciate your time today, thank you so much. >> thank you, george. >>> hurricane dorian gains strength and it makes its beeline towards the bahamas and florida. we'll have an update. >>> plus, florida is running low on supplies as the storm approaches. how the state is trying to make sure everyone has what they need to stay safe. stay with us. namaste? namaste right here on the couch. but then, anne laid on a serta perfect sleeper. and realized her life was only just... sorta comfortable. where have you been all my life? not just sorta comfortable. serta comfortable. save on the pressure-relieving serta perfect sleeper at the labor day sale. they give us excellent customer otservice, every time.e. our 18 year old was in an accident. usaa took care of her car rental, and getting her car towed. all i had to take care of was making su

acting secretaries and current white house staff looks different to a swing voter than trump with jim mattisnd secretary of defense, but they had the sense that it was constraining on some important issues. and he was popping off and he has these rallies and tweets. but at the end of the day -- i think of in that kind of in that respect that it's spinning out of control hurts him more than -- no one can give a detail, i couldn't, analysis of what he's done wrong exactly. but people have the sense that it's a little crazy. >> competency. >> exhaustion and competency. >> the dual achilles hills of this man. adrienne, bill, and andrea, stick around. >>> up ahead, the shifting conversation on guns and regulating guns. now top republicans are saying something needs to be done. will the white house cooperate and what are they going to cooperate doing? >>> and later meet the press daily consumer alert. what you really need to know if you're thinking about buying greenland. i don't think amazon is bringing jobs. we'll be right back. tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help

we are not getting a jim mattis clear read between the lines. i'm retiring you are in good hands.t's the operative lain. but you have the republican senate committee intelligence chairman. sue gordon's retirement is a significant loss for our intelligence community. it's not a small thing. >> it's not a small thing. i remember working with her in situation room meeting under president obama. this is an example where sue gordon's experience was a strike against her when it came to president trump. having served myriad presidents she knew how it worked. that's why she was in the position she was in. what we have seen again is president trump thinks he knows how the procedure should work. he is going against the line of succession to say i knows who is better. >> the number two the guy that i don't want around anymore because it's -- i want her out. it's -- that's it. >> he doesn't want that experience. and erin my concern is what kind of message does this send to the intelligence community? if you show you have experience, if you show that you have candor, is the president going to

and what do they want to see happen given what we saw unfold between his former defense secretary jim mattis >> clearly we've seen trump meet the realities of his campaign rhetoric in every instance of u.s. military intervention abroad. it was very popular for him to say i'm going to pull troops home and get out of these wars. just this week from the white house he disparaged afghanistan as a police action and said the military is a police force and shouldn't be a police force. on friday the army announced the latest round of deployments, the third security force assistant brigade, the aviation brigade are being sent back in, thousands of troops being rotated in on trump's order as he publicly says this is a bad war, a bad mission. and we shouldn't be doing this kind of thing. it is the generals like the new incoming joint chiefs chairman are the ones who are probably going to check those desires and give him a dose of reality. >> kevin baron, always appreciate your insight. thanks for joining us. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." andrea will be back tomorrow. follo

china and with russia, china wanted to build some airfields in greenland that defense secretary jim mattisncerned about. i don't think mattis was saying we should buy greenland, but the reason i think people might, you know, kind of take a second thought and have a conversation about this is because it's not just like some big piece of land and no one knows where it is and it's all kind of ridiculous. there is this sort of strategic component. having said all that, again, i really don't think this is something that's likely to go forward. but greenland actually does have a strategic significance that makes it interesting to talk about. >> michael, thank you. tiffany cross, thank you. yes, greenland is that big. andrea mitchell will have much more on the back and forth with tlaib in the next hour. that's why we redesigned humira. we wanted to make the experience better for you. now there's less pain immediately following injection. we've reduced the size of the needle and removed the citrate buffers. and it has the same effectiveness you know and trust. humira citrate-free is here. a little