but now a very solemn moment of the burial of sergeant la david johnson. not to be lost on the sequence of events. and now he being laid to rest. 25-year-old father of two. and a husband. so many turning out. turning out for this cooper city florida event. also with me now, media, chief media correspondent brian stelter. there are four young men involved here. the consequences of this ambush. still the investigation intensifying what took place, how is it, what were the circumstances of these four soldiers and their death. why sergeant johnson's body was found a mile away 48 hours after the retrieval of the other three. but it is sergeant la david johnson's name that has become a household name, brian, the one most familiar in what is still, you know, a fog of circumstances surrounding their deaths. >> i think this sergeant's life and his death have in some ways personalized america's forever wars. you think about casualties in afghanistan and iraq and now niger, a place that many americans didn't know there was fighting or u.s. military action going on. s

david johnson is still missing. >> why did it take time to recover la david johnson? >> also killed in that ambush, dustin wright who was planning a future with his girlfriend in philadelphia. 35-year-old staff sergeant bryan black who spoke arabic and french but also learned a local dialect to communicate with natives. and also, staff sergeant jeremiah johnson. >> there are 800 american trumans in niger. of them, less than 100 are the advisers to local military. >> you can be with them on the front lines which was clearly the case. you can stay back behind the front lines and that's what happened for a while in iraq. it is one of those euphemisms, advise and assist. >> last tuesday johnson's body made the long journey home. >> i want everyone >> you've known him since you were 6. >> yes. >> it was during her car ride to dover air force base to meet her huss's casket when she received the now infamous condolence call from president trump. >> i asked sergeant neil put his phone on the speaker so my aunt and uncle could hear as well. what he said was -- >> the president

david johnson is still missing. >> why did it take time to recover la david johnson? >> also killed in that ambush, dustin wright who was planning a future with his girlfriend in philadelphia. 35-year-old staff sergeant bryan black who spoke arabic and french but also learned a local dialect to communicate with natives. and also, staff sergeant jeremiah johnson. >> there are 800 american trumans in niger. of them, less than 100 are the advisers to local military. >> you can be with them on the front lines which was clearly the case. you can stay back behind the front lines and that's what happened for a while in iraq. it is one of those euphemisms, advise and assist. >> last tuesday johnson's body made the long journey home. >> i want everyone to know. >> you've known him since you were 6. >> yes. >> it was during her car ride to dover air force base to meet her huss's casket when she received the now infamous condolence call from president trump. >> i asked sergeant neil put his phone on the speaker so my aunt and uncle could hear as well. what he said was -- >> the

david johnson. and his fellow comrades there, dustin wright, jeremiah johnson, brian black. the formal investigation, under way into the ambush that killed johnson and his comrades there, early reports indicating johnson's body was found nearly a mile from where the other soldiers were killed. lawmakers are demanding answers about what happened, what went wrong, and many u.s. civilians also asking why were these troops in niger in the first place. senator lindsay gram issuing this warning. >> the war is headed to africa. it's begin to go morph, as we suppress the enemy in the mid east, they're going to move, they're not going to quit. >> let's bring in cnn's senior diplomatic correspondent. the michele, the fbi on the ground interviewing people trying to collect evidence. are we learning anything more about the investigation? >> reporter:. yeah. i think most of the details coming out over the past two days have focus the on the investigation itself. who's handling it, we know that africa command is

david johnson is still missing. >> why did it take time to recover la david johnson? >> also killed dustin wright who was planning a future with his girlfriend in philadelphia. 35-year-old staff sergeant bryan black who spoke arabic and french but also learned a local dialect to communicate with natives. and also, staff sergeant jeremiah johnson. >> there are 800 american trumans in niger. of them, less than 100 are the advisers to local military. >> you can be with them on the front lines which was clearly the case. you can stay back behind the front lines and that's what happened for a while in iraq. it is one of those euphemisms, advise and assist. >> last tuesday johnson's body made the long journey home. >> i want everyone >> you've known him since you were 6. >> yes. >> it was during her car ride to dover air force base to meet her huss's casket when she received the now infamous condolence call from president trump. >> i asked sergeant neil put his phone on the speaker so my aunt and uncle could hear as well. what he said was -- >> the president. >> yes. the pr

call her by her name, myeshia johnson. call him by his name, sergeant la david johnson. he is not her guy. he is her husband. and that is the part that hurt her the most. >> general kelly -- >> that is the part. >> general kelly said that he was so stunned and frankly hurt by your words and your reaction that in order to gather his thoughts he had to go to arlington national cemetery. he spent an hour and a half walking among the grave stones of the people there, the people who made the biggest sacrifice and are the finest people in our country. because he was hurt in that way, do you have anything you would like to say to germ kelly today? >> to general kelly, i have lost members of the role models project in war before during the urbg war. we know what it is. we feel for you just like we feel for la david's parents and la david's wife. you have my deepest sympathy. but i would never say to you your son knew what he was signing up for. that would not be a part of my sympathy message to you. >> how is this public fight you're having with the president and now general kel

and 25-year-old la david johnson who lost his mother as a young boy and was raised by relatives. he is survived by his pregnant wife and their two children. so this one says ... ... dealership has great customer service ... (muffled voice) ... and has great deals! ... and has ... ... complimentary donuts. ... that's the one! cars.com. over 5 million expert and user reviews. kyle, we talked about this. there's no monsters. but you said they'd be watching us all the time. no, no. no, honey, we meant that progressive would be protecting us 24/7. we just bundled home and auto and saved money. that's nothing to be afraid of. -but -- -good night, kyle. [ switch clicks, door closes ] ♪ i told you i was just checking the wiring in here, kyle. he's never like this. i think something's going on at school. -[ sighs ] -he's not engaging. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's, and your symptoms have left you with the same view, it may be time for a different perspective. if other treatments haven't worked well enough, ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic d

sergeant la david johnson was laid to rest at the weekend but there's no resting in peace. instead, there is sound and fury. his widow has spoken for the first time about the now infamous call from president trump. the president said he knew what he signed up for but it hurts anyways. and i was, it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. she also revealed the us military refused to let her see her husband's body. i don't know nothing. they won't show me a finger, a hand. i know my husband's body from head to toe and they won't let me see anything. i don't know what's in that box. it could be empty for all i know but i need, i need to see my husband. the phone call from donald trump came last week as the johnson family waited at miami airport to receive his body but after myeshia johnson's interview today, the president tweeted within an hour to challenge her account. "i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of sergeant la david johnson and spoke his name from beginning without hesi

as you know, myesha johnson, the widow of the fallen soldier la david johnson in niger, spoke this morning and she reiterated how many questions she has, she doesn't have answers from this administration on how her husband died, why his body was left for 48 hours, why she hasn't been able to see or identify her husband yet. do you have questions for the administration on this as well? >> well, first, we need to honor the fallen soldier, sergeant johnson, and his family, and tell them how much we appreciate his sacrifice and sacrifice of the family and for all our men and women in uniform and their family. how much we appreciate them and honor them. i understand there's some questions hopefully there can be more answers and also as you know, we're looking into you know the military effort in niger and we'll continue to do that and get more facts. >> senator, you know, it's a delicate question here but myesha johnson was on tv this morning and clearly still hurt by the conversation she had with the president. our reporting from the white house is, is that the president has no intention to re

but sergeant la david johnson is still missing. his body would not be recovered for another 48 hours. >> from the time the firefight was initiated, until sergeant johnson's body was recovered, french, nigerian or u.s. forces remained in that area. >> reporter: congress wants answers, but some top lawmakers admit, they didn't know u.s. troops were there. >> i didn't know there was 1,000 troops in niger. >> reporter: the president has been taking credit for victories against isis. >> i totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job. yeah, isis is now giving up. they're giving up. they're raising their hands. they're walking off. nobody's ever seen that before. >> why didn't that happen before? >> because you didn't have trump as your president. >> reporter: but the pentagon today made clear who is responsible for the deaths of these four americans. >> so, our initial assessment is these are local tribal fighters that are associated with isis. >> and mary bruce joins us live tonight from the pentagon.

still unanswered, why it took 48 hours to recover the body of sergeant la david johnson. the briefing comes as the president is caught up in a controversy over his phone call to johnson's grieving widow. myesha johnson says she was very upset, very hurt by the tone of the president's condolence call and his comment that her husband, quote, knew what he signed up for. president trump today insisted his conversation with the widow was respectful and he denied that he stumbled trying to recall her husband's name. a >>> and amid growing tensions with north korea right now, president trump is escalating his war of words with kim jong-un, saying the u.s. is prepared for anything. amid deep concern that all the tough talk could lead to a military showdown, there are new questions tonight about whether the president will visit the korean demilitarized zone during his upcoming trip to the region. would that pour fuel on the fire? >>> i'll speak with senator ben cardin, he's the ranking member of the foreign relations committee, and our correspondents, specialists and guests, they'

we begin with myeisha johnson, the widow of sergeant la david johnson, one of four soldiers killed in niger. today she spoke about the president's conversation with her in an interview. >> the president said that he knew what he signed up for, bu

sergeant la david johnson was one of four u.s. soldiers who lost their lives on october 4th in niger where they were helping local forces fight terrorists. staff sergeant dustin wright came from a deeply roots familiar military family. he is the first to have died. and jeremiah johnson leaves wife and two daughter. bryan black 35-year-old green beret medic, he survived by a wife and two sons. and 25-year-old la david johnson who lost his mother as a young boy and was raised by relatives, married his childhood sweetheart. he's survived by his pregnant wife and their two children. you nervous? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ custom t-shirts and other great products for every occasion. for the first day of school to game day and everything in between. with the best collection of styles and graphics to choose from, it's easy to go online and create custom t-shirts, and more, for all of lifes events. (drumming) get start-to-finish help, free shipping, on-time guaranteed. (drumming) for a limited time, save 10% now on your first order of six or more sh

i am wondering your thoughts on the morning of the funeral of la david johnson. president trump did not mention la david johnson in his tweets, but went after the commerce member. both the widow and the congressmember frederica wilson are african-american. bravest, those four sonos, brave heroes. they were under most difficult circumstances protecting our nation, making sure that we enjoy peace in this nation. their sacrifice, their families, dignity,he utmost respect, and privacy. this call could have waited a few days until after the burial. and that is where john kelly, we pay tribute to his military service, his family's sacrifice, in people'serves house. he is on people's payroll. his responsibility is to make sure that this president who lacks empathy, lacks sympathy, leadership, is directed to act with dignity, directed to act about this moment with utmost respect to these families. this is what he should have done. the lack of this president. he should have put the exact words in front of him to recite from. that is one thing. hisnd, it was responsibility

david johnson. but instead, he chose to tweet about the congresswoman, congresswoman wilson who was close to the family and been sort of the part of this back and forth controversy with the white house this week. also, a conversation with sergeant johnson's mother is an issue that continues to grow. what does he say in this tweet about it? >> the president is continuing that back and forth with congresswoman frederica wilson of south florida, white writing in a tweet this morning that he hopes in his words the fake news media will continue following whacky wilson because, again, in his words that is correct means that she will make the democrat party lose. as you said, there's been a back and forth this week between the congresswoman and the president, and it has continued. last night he was on fox business news speaking about the situation. le here's more of what he said. >> he was so offended because he was in h the room when i made the call, and so were other people. and the call was a very nice

but sergeant la david johnson is still missing. his body would not be recovered for another 48 hours. >> on the eventing of 6 october, sergeant johnson's body was found and subsequently evacuated. from the time the firefight was initiated until sergeant johnson's body was recovered, french, nigerian or u.s. forces remained in that area. >> reporter: congress wants answers, but some top lawmakers admit, they didn't know u.s. troops were there. we're at in the world militarily, and what we're doing. i didn't know there was 1,000 troops in niger. >> reporter: the president has been taking credit for victories against isis. >> i totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job. yeah, isis is now giving up. they're giving up. they're raising their hands. they're walking off. nobody's ever seen that before. >> why didn't that happen before? >> because you didn't have trump as your president. >> reporter: but the pentagon today made clear who is responsible for the deaths of these four americans. >> so, our

sergeant la david johnson -- was killed along with three other soldiers in niger. reflecting on his own experience after his son was killed while serving in afghanistan-- general kelly told reporters that presidents don't always call families -- and that there's no perfect way to make that call. good morning washington. toss to eileen - sunny & warm through the weekend - orionid meteor shower peaks tonight - rain returns tuesday - another big temperature drop next week today: mostly sunny. cool start; warm afternoon. highs: 74-77 winds: nw 5-10 mph tonight: mainly clear and cool. lows: 43-53 winds: nw 5 to calm saturday: mostly sunny. warm. highs: 76-78 winds: se 5-10 mph developing right now in maryland... a girl scout leader is behind bars this morning and facing child pornography charges. police tell us he mizrahi's" home in ellicott city early thursday morning. there's no indication any of the images found involve children enrolled in the girl scouts. however-- he is now banned from his troop. the scouts released a statement saying in part - mr. mizrahi passed

but sergeant la david johnson is still missing. his body would not be recovered for another 48 hours. >> on the eventing of 6 october, sergeant johnson's body was found and subsequently evacuated. from the time the firefight was initiated until sergeant johnson's body was recovered, french, nigerian or u.s. forces remained in that area. >> reporter: congress wants answers, but some top lawmakers admit, they didn't know u.s. troops were there. >> we don't know exactly where we're at in the world militarily, and what we're doing. i didn't know there was 1,000 troops in niger. >> reporter: the president has been taking credit for victories against isis. >> i totally changed the attitudes of the military and they have done a fantastic job. yeah, isis is now giving up. they're giving up. they're raising their hands. they're walking off. nobody's ever seen that before. >> why didn't that happen before? >> because you didn't have trump as your president. >> reporter: but the pentagon today made clear who is responsible for the deaths of t

, the widow of la david johnson. i want to pick up where we left off. we were talking about john mccain who did not name the president by name but talked about this divide among americans some who were able to get out of being drafted in vietnam, others like him who went. >> well, he didn't do it by name but identified him by his bone spurs as it were. as we've recently been reminded by the ken burns' series, it was a perfect storm hit during vietnam. the baby boom generation feeling its weight and coming of age, huge expansion of college enrollment. into this you had a lesson to be learned which is if you're going to fight a ground land of asia, don't do it with a conscript army because you're going to have all these carveouts, the military didn't need the entire 18 to 24 cohort. so it had all these exemptions beginning with student exemptions. >> which, of course was class based. >> if you go to an ivy league campus, princeton, yale, harvard you'll see a wall listing the casualties in the civil war and first world

>>> sergeant la david johnson was found nearly a mile away from the central scene of the ambush. >>> u.s. military does not leave its troops behind. >> the war is morphing. you're going to see more actions in africa, not less. >> the military dictatorship. that appears to be what the white house thinks the united states is. >> if you want to get into a debate with a four star marine general, i think that's highly inappropriate. >> even for someone that is that empty barrel, stunned. >> if you don't understand that reference, i'll put it a little more simply, as we say in the south, all hat, no cattle. >> there is a credibility issue with the president. now, there's a possible credibility issue with the chief of staff. >> isis no longer rules here. once again, they've left behind a city scarred by their occupation. >>> good morning, everyone, i'm diane gallagher in for christi paul. and i'm martin savidge in for victor blackwell. final good-byes today for a soldier who sacrificed his life to isis. sergeant la david johnson just 24 years old laid to rest today in his hometown. >> we wa

but we do know that la david johnson's body was not found until 48 hours later. in fact, by local african forces. the secretary went on to say something interesting, he said that he didn't want people to come to some judgment basically about what the troops on the ground tried to do to get everybody out all at once, all at the same time. that really goes to the big unanswered question here. i don't think anybody has really questioned the devotion of the troops to getting everybody out, to trying to get everybody out. but there's not a public answer yet about why that did not happen. the questions are there to be answered. was he simply -- was there a miscount and they thought they had everybody but did not. nobody is questioning the tro s troops' devotion to getting everyone out. it looks like he was separated from the rest of the group. how did that happen? how far away was he found? why couldn't they find his body right away? remember, in the that first 48 hours, in fact, there was a secret plan for a possible rescue. they had some feeling, some intelligence th

sergeant la david johnson was laid to rest at the weekend but there's no resting in peace. instead, there is sound and fury. his widow has spoken for the first time about the now infamous call from president trump. the president said he knew what he signed up for but it hurts anyways. and i was, it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. she also revealed the us military refused to let her see her husband's body. i don't know nothing. they won't show me a finger, a hand. i know my husband's body from head to toe and they won't let me see anything. i don't know what's in that box. it could be empty for all i know but i need, i need to see my husband. the phone call from donald trump came last week as the johnson family waited at miami airport to receive his body but, after myeshia johnson's interview today, the president tweeted within an hour to challenge her account. "i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of sergeant la david johnson and spoke his name from beginning, without he

david johnson. >>> also tonight, the very rare move from a former president. george w. bush, who has shied away from the public eye, now breaking his silence tonight on what he's seeing in this country. >>> also breaking, the state of emergency in florida, the white nationalist leader set to speak. and then, you'll see what happened today. >>> just in tonight, the las vegas investigation, what we've now learned about those 12 minutes. >>> new reporting tonight, what happened inside the cockpit as that passenger p >>> breaking now. what the lapd has just revealed about harvey weinstein. >>> and will your city win? 50,000 amazon jobs, sal race of 100 grand. and how far will your city go? >>> good evening. and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night. and we begin with that deeply personal moment at the white house today. chief of staff general john kelly coming into the briefing room, defending president trump's phone call to the family of sergeant la david johnson. and in doing so, gen

and that program is something la david johnson went through. she is not a politician politicizing this whatsoever. she was in the car because she's a dear friend a central part of his upbringing, sir. so i want to correct the record there. the biggest issue we have here is if it's not congresswoman fredrika wilson then it's congresswoman maxine waters. if it's not susan rice, then it's jemele hill from espn. he has an issue with strong, black women. >> no, no. you're cherry picking. >> no, i'm not cherry picking. i just gave you several exampless. if it's not a strong black woman it's a strong black man. i'm saying there is a clear clear pattern of his bull yaeg behavior and it starts with black women. >> don, there are 16 republicans, couple are hispanic, one was a woman, one was a black guy. there's lots of wommembers of congress, some black guys, some white guys. if you're -- >> she's trying to tell you her name is fredrika. >> she doesn't care what your race is, your height, little rocket man, whatever, he's going to come back at you. >> li

sergeant la david johnson was killed along with three other soldiers in an ambush in niger two weeks ago. but his family and his local congresswoman say the president disrespected his memory in a phone calljust before the body arrived back home. i was in the car when president trump called. he never said the word "hero." he said to the wife, "well, i guess he knew what he was getting into." how insensitive can you be? what's more, according to the congresswoman, the call left the widow in tears, as the president didn't seem to know her husband's name. in characteristic style, donald trump responded on twitter: the white house later said there was no recording of the phone call. and in the cabinet room, he was asked, just what did you say to sergeantjohnson's widow? i did not say what she said. and i'd like her to make the statement again, because i did not say what she said. i had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren't too surprised to hear that. earlier in the week, the

sergeant la david johnson was laid to rest at the weekend but there's no resting in peace. instead, there is sound and fury. his widow has spoken for the first time about the now infamous call from president trump. the president said he knew what he signed up for but it hurts anyways. and i was, it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. he couldn't remember my husband's name. she also revealed the us military refused to let her see her husband's body. i don't know nothing. they won't show me a finger, a hand. i know my husband's body from head to toe and they won't let me see anything. i don't know what's in that box. it could be empty for all i know but i need, i need to see my husband. the phone call from donald trump came last week as thejohnson family waited at miami airport to receive his body but, after myeshia johnson's interview today, the president tweeted within an hour to challenge her account. "i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of sergeant la david johnson and spoke his name from beginning, without hes

david johnson. >>> also tonight, the very rare move from a former president. george w. bush, who has shied away from the public eye, now breaking his silence tonight on what he's seeing in this country. >>> also breaking, the state of emergency in florida, the white nationalist leader set to speak. and then, you'll see what happened today. >>> just in tonight, the las vegas investigation, what we've now learned about those 12 minutes. >>> new reporting tonight, what happened inside the cockpit as that passenger plane came so close to the tower. >>> breaking now. what the lapd has just revealed about harvey weinstein. >>> and will your city win? 50,000 amazon jobs, sal race of 100 grand. and how far will your city go? >>> good evening. and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night. and we begin with that deeply personal moment at the white house today. chief of staff general john kelly coming into the briefing room, defending president trump's phone call to the family of sergeant la dav

the widow of la david johnson, one of four u.s. soldiers killed nearly flthree weeks ago breaks her silence on the controversial phone call she got from the president. myeshia johnson says she has questions about her husband's death, questions that aren't being answered by the government, how was he killed, where was he killed. >> so many questions that she of anyone deserves answers to. she also this morning stood by the version of the president's condolence call to her that was provided to the public by congresswoman frederica wilson, an account disputed by the president and his chief of staff on multiple occasions. she was very upset, she said, by the words that the president chose to use. the fact that the president, she says, could not remember her late husband's name, so upset, here's what she told abc news. >> the questions that i have that i need answered is, i want to know why it took them 48 hours to find my husband, why couldn't i see my husband? every time i asked to see my husband, they wouldn't let me. >> what did the

david johnson. >>> also tonight, the very rare move from a former president. george w. bush, who has shied away from the public eye, now breaking his silence tonight on what he's seeing in this country. >>> also breaking, the state of emergency in florida, the white nationalist leader set to speak. and then, you'll see what happened today. >>> just in tonight, the las vegas investigation. what we've now learned about those 12 minutes. >>> new reporting tonight, what happened inside the cockpit as that passenger plane came so close to the tower. >>> breaking now. what the lapd has just revealed about harvey weinstein. >>> and will your city win? 50,000 amazon jobs, salaries of 100 grand. and how far will your city go? >>> good evening. and it's great to have you with us here on a thursday night. and we begin with that deeply personal moment at the white house today. chief of staff general john kelly coming into the briefing room, defending president trump's phone call to the family of sergeant la dav

and that program is something la david johnson went through. she is not a politician politicizing this whatsoever. she was in the car because she's a dear friend and a central part of his upbringing, sir. so i want to correct the record there. the biggest issue we have here is if it's not congresswoman frederica wilson, then it's congresswoman maxine waters. fit's not maxine waters, then it's susan rice. if it's not susan rice, then it's jemele hill from espn. he has an issue with strong, black women. >> no, no. >> yes, he does. >> you're cherry picking. >> no, i'm not cherry picking. i just gave you several examples. wait. i'm not fip finished. if it's not a strong black woman it's a strong black man. i give you don lemon. if you need more examples, i'll give you april ryan, who is a fellow commentator of yours. i'm saying there is a clear clear pattern of his bullying behavior and it starts with black women. >> don, can i just offer, there are 16 republicans, couple are hispanic, one was a woman, one was a black guy. there's lots of members o

cnn has learned the same was prepared before recovering the body of la david johnson. uncertainty whether he decided may have contributed to the decision not to release presidential remarks. >> a bipartisan health care bill has suddenly stalled after of the president called the agreement a great solution the white house to the immediate blow-back from conservatives. insurance companying should not benefit but note the new treasure does address that issue. cnn's mill mattingly has more. >>reporter: it seems like only 24 or 36 hours ago before bipartisanship was in the air, republicans, democrats, everybody was agreeing on something. there was actually a deal on the short term measure to try to fund the subsidies the president ended a few days prior. le well that has essentially imploded. well the president has a pretty good reason. deciding he is opposed to the bill, that they reached on this health care issue. where do the republican senators stand on it? >> i wouldn't call it dead but it's sucking wind. >> you don't want to pass something that has no chance in the hou

david johnson. >> kelly did not hold back. >> i was stunned when i came to work yesterday morning and brokenhearted at what i saw a member of congress doing. a member of congress who listened in on a phone call from the president of the united states to a young wife. and in his way tried to express that opinion that he's a brave man, fallen hero. he knew what he was getting himself into. >> late last night president trump weighed in with a tweet of the fake news media is going crazy with whacky congresswoman wilson, a democrat who was secretly on a very personal call and gave a total lie on content. it is worth noting sergeant johnson's widow invited wilson to listen to the call. for more on this, cnn's sarah murray at the white house. >> reporter: good morning. white house chief of staff and refired general john kelly making an appearance. he talked about losing his own son in afghanistan. and provided a window into the advice he gave to the president about how to talk to family members of a soldie

david johnson and spoke his name from beginning

sergeant la david johnson's body was recovered two days after the attack. they insisted they searched for him until he was found. >> the u.s. military does not leave its troops behind, and i would just ask that you not question the actions of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once. and i would also ask you don't confuse your need for accurate information with our ability to provide it immediately in a situation like this. >> senate ir-joor john nmccain s are asking for more information and is suggesting it may take a subpoena to find out what really went wrong. >>> former presidents bush and barack obama are back in the spotlight, blasting the state of american politics. obama warned that our democracy is threatened, echoing a sentiment by former president bush earlier in the day. >> reporter: former president obama returned to the campaign trail to stump for gubernatorial candidates. mr. obama who has left a relatively low profile came with a message of i

sergeant la david johnson's body was found 48 hours later. nobody can say how and why he was left behind. why so many officials from the white house today, several administration officials tell me it was really a deliberate decision to try and get the narrative back that the administration felt it was out of control and they wanted to be very much part of how the story was being told. don. >> thank you so much, barbara. appreciate that. i want to bring in now cnn military analyst colonel cedricilaten and colonel steve warren. colonel lateen, i'm going to start with you. instead there were 50 isis fighters. can that be called anything but an intelligence tail javier? >> it is absolutely an intelligence failure and one of the highest magnitude when it comes to special operations missions. this kind of mission requires a degree of intelligence overwatch. now, the type of mission they were engaged in is something called foreign internal defense. and those typically go without as much protection as some of the more sensitive special operations mis

sergeant la david johnson is one of four u.s. soldiers who lost their lives on october 4th in niger where they were helping local forces fight terrorists. dustin wright was 29, came from a family deeply roots in military service back to 1812, this being the first service member they lost in their family. and jeremiah johnson was a chemical and nuclear specialists who earned dozens of awards and leaves a wife and two daughters. sergeant bryan black was a medic who was 35, he communicated directly with the people, he is survived by a wife and two sons. and 25-year-old la david johnson who lost his mother as a young boy, was raised by relatives, married his childhood sweet heart, he is survived by his pregnant wife and their two children. hese days. businesses are thinking. factories are thinking. even your toaster is thinking. honey, clive owen's in our kitchen. i'm leaving. oh nevermind, he's leaving. but what if a business could turn all that thinking... thinking... endless thinking into doing. to make better decisions. make a di

la david. it says la david johnson. i called rite from the beginning, no hesitation. one of the great memories of all time. >> the president accused the media of not reporting on other phone calls he made to military families and insists everyone else he spoke to couldn't have been nicer. >>> president trump also shined a balance attacking republican senators he's mad at with keeping them in his political corner. in the span of secretaries he clammed senator flake and then claimed they were stay with him on tax reform. >> actually, great unity in the republican party. yesterday i was -- that's okay. they have to do their thing. i think i probably helped greatly in arizona. i don't know flake very well but i do know bob corker. i think they feel they have to do it for the country. >> republican unity facing a challenge with senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. "the washington post" reporting the senate leadership fund will spend millions highlighting bannon's hard line populism and attempting link him with white nationalism. >>> the vice president bill to stabilize

she was someone who had known la david johnson for years. this wasn't just the congresswoman who represented his area. this was someone with whom he had a personal relationship, was a family friend. we just need to make that clear to our viewers. also that john kelly and presumably other aides were on the line as well listening to this phone call. what do you make of his criticism there? >> well, look, i think of that at a minimum as the price of taking the podium. we know that most people in that briefing room from the administration are pointing to an audience of one. you have to assume the president is watching. it's very interesting of course that he made reference to comments about gold star families being sacred at one point and he says that left at the convention over the summer. there's going to be a lot of analysis of that and why in fact that last breach of what was sacred has changed. that of course was because candidate donald trump decided to pick a fight with a gold star family. i saw him as brianna walking a very fine line. yo

of sergeant la david johnson. she gave a an interview saying she was hurt. she cried. here is what he fired back. i had a very respectful conversation with the widow and spoke his name frt beginning without hesitation. regardless of who's right or wrong, this is a woman who is pregnant with a child who will never meet his or her father. what does that tweet reveal from this president. >> it reveals those kinds of feelings and sentiment is not what drives the president. this is a case where the president should just stop. he is politicizing the issue biby continuing to talk about it. there needs to be some level of sympathy that much of the public has for the widow. >> all he has to say is i'm so sorry for your loss. that's all he has to say. but he has to be right. and so there's another day of the news cycle. >> it's a combination of being intensely combative. any time he attacks back. on the other hand he's so focussed on winning and so focused on defending his reputation in these moments that this is a case whe

the body of sergeant la david johnson was not recovered until two days later. he and his wife were expected their third child. in hindsight it's obvious the patrol went out without enough backup. it will take an investigation to determine whether an ambush was in the worked had been missed. david martin, cbs news, the pentagon. >>> today they're formally introducing a bill for subsidies to insurance companies. the white house said the president does not support the measure in its current form and some speakers like paul ryan are speaking out against it, but last night a bipartisan group of ten governors signed a letter urging congressional leaders to support the plan. the 'agreement on a two-year extension would help lower income americans obtain medical coverage. the president cut off the subsidies last week. >>> attorney general jeff sessions and spawned some contention shus bark and forth-over alleged meddling. sessions was questioned about any role he might have had in the firing of james comey. he refused to say if he discussed comey's involvement in the i

david johnson. the widow says the president struggled to remember her husband's name. leaving her angry and in tears. the president has a very different take on that conversation. let's dig deeper with our contributors and specialists and gloria, immediately after the gold star widow was on abc this morning, speaking emotionally, very passionately, the president went on twitter and contradicted her account tweeting, "i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of sergeant la david johnson and spoke his name from beginning without hesitation." since then, several times during the course of today, he was shouted questions by reporters, never said anything else. is there a new strategy the president, perhaps, is -- >> hopefully. >> -- pursuing? >> hopefully there is one. i mean, what ever possess eed a president to get in a fight with this gold star wife is beyond me, and what he could have done is to say, look, i am so sorry that you misinterpreted my intentions. my only intention was to honor

but the mother of army sergeant la david johnson says the president did disrespect her family in his condolence call. nowors are speaking about. >> mattis is demanding answers about the ambush in niger that killed johnson and three other soldiers. cnn has new reporting so we will share what we have learned about this tragedy. joe johns is live at the white house with us. hi, joe. >> reporter: hi, alisyn. president trump and the family of the fallen soldier intensifying their war of words over the language the president used during the condonelce fall raising the question if the white house had been better off if the president said nothing at all. >> didn't say what the congresswoman said. didn't say it at all. >> reporter: president trump defending his conversation with the widow of u.s. army sergeant la david johnson. >> i had a very nice conversation with the woman -- with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. >> reporter: insisting democratic congresswoman frederica wilson fabricated her account what he said and vowed he has proof. >> i did hear him saying i'm sure he knew wh

we begin with myesha johnson, the widow of sergeant la david johnson, one of the fallen in niger. >> the president said tha

la david johnson who was killed in action in niger. last week when congresswoman frederica wilson quoted the president as saying he knew he

because of course the big question that remains is what happened with sergeant la david johnson, that he was left behind and his body was not discovered for 48 hours. that is a key question for the pentagon investigation, and another key question of course is the intelligence. now did this 12-man team led by green berets walk into an ambush? clearly they did not know isis fighters were there. broadly speaking, this is an area where insurgents are very active but they'd been to the village before and not run into trouble. the question is what kind of intelligence were they given on the day they went on this mission? >> lot of questions. >>> as for the controversy around president trump's call to the widow of sergeant la david johnson, neither side is backing down. president firmly rejecting the claim of democratic congresswoman fredricka wilson. she said thee heard the president tell the widow that her husband quote knew what he signed up for but it still hurt. not so, said the president. >> i didn't say what that congresswoman said. she knows. it. i did not say what she said. i had ve