mattis went as far to say president trump is unfit:it's extraordinary. this is a top national security official. this is "mad dog" mattis the president kept praising on the campaign trail before he met him and spent time with him and threw him under the bus. >> he threw him under the bus because mattis did his job and as i quote mattis in the book say saying the pentagon got almost no guidance from president trume it's okay. i have such respect. i spent hours with bush. all of the people. >> didn't he come out terribly. >> what he did in the third book was called state of denial because he got into denial. >> let me ask you. >> sure. >> he spent all that time with you. >> yes. >> and you made him look like a fool. >> no, no, no, my job is to find the best. >> you'll probably write a lousy book. i respect you as an author. >> i mean, i don't know if he's ever read any of your books, i would be surprised if he had. have you ever experienced that with a president before that essentially, it's such an old trick. it's an old thing to try to do to an interview

did his job and as i quote mattis in the book, saying, he, mattis, ran the pentagon, got almost no guidance from president trump except through tweets and mattis knew, you can't run national security or defense policy with tweets. and time and time again, these impulsive tweets come and the portrait of mattis -- i had the luxury of time, really, to dig into the story, is almost a book in itself. >> yeah. >> because this is a man who was retired, who was willing to serve. it got to a point where he was worried about some war with north korea and -- >> hey, bob, i got to -- >> sleep in his gym clothes. >> i'm sorry, we have a glitch on the transmission so i couldn't show you right now, so i want to play something, we'll fix it while it's playing, ab t about, one of the things that really struck me that was consistent throughout this process was the president, i mean, interviews are fascinating things between a reporter and a president or anybody. he has this habit of praising the person he's talked to, trying to butter them up, essentially, thinking that that's going to work with bob woodward

i know mattis. he's a fine guy. i just -- i think trump has just stunned everyone around him as just to how corrupt his thinking is. i mean, think about this. remember he said under oath -- not under oath. i shouldn't say that. said to the american public that he didn't get that briefing on how dangerous coronavirus was. he didn't get that from the intelligence committee. he never read the reports. he doesn't have anything to do with that. he saw the reports. he knew them in detail. at least we know he can read. i mean, think about it. think about how misleading it was, and all those folks -- and why did he not -- let's assume that he didn't want to worry people. why in god's name didn't he move quicker on the defense production act to provide ppp, you know, the protective equipment for doctors and first responders? why didn't he do that? he, i mean, okay, he says he didn't want to panic people. well, at least make sure everybody has the equipment they need. just say that's just excess of caution. he didn't even do

dagen: mattie. >> mattie: the problem is voting system as today. we talked about wisconsin before, i've never had to show an id when i lived there. there's a problem that are durable and haven't addressed in the state before we talk about making changes that would make it easier and accessible. that's something that the president should be talking about. he's all for getting people involved in democracy, lackluster participation in the country, but, you know, there are challenge that -- challenget predates election that we get a handle on. dagen: president trump has spit ball in style and he is funny, however, he needs to expand beyond his base, mattie are supporting him, over 90% of republicans in polling, he's trailing in independents? mattie: the comment of nancy pelosi, rather than talking about how she shouldn't be duped , she should -- he should be talking about the business owner. that what is what the president should be saying, listen, i'm going to continue to build a durable economy for all americans not just for those who are politically

he says this is not good mattis said. maybe at some point we are going to have to stand up and speak out. there may be a team we have to take collective action, possibly. yeah. there may. he is dangerous. he is unfit. i mean could now still be that time do you think? >> absolutely, don. i do believe and i have the highest respect for secretary mattis and dan coats, great people. i think this is the time that they need to share with the public their experiences with this president. you know, and by the way this is in the aftermath of the jeffrey goldberg atlantic story the president was making dispare acknowledging comments about service members, calling them terrible names like losers. i think it is imperative they stand up and say this. secretary mattis, i believe president trump made the reference to them being effin effing p-words. is anybody shocked that he said these things and couldn't comprehend the notion of service, to think of things larger than themselves and that is why they serve. i mean he does not seem to g

and he calls mattis, who he was very close to. mattis had resigned, i think, five months earlier. and he said, i need to talk to somebody and they go through that conversation as you relayed it but then on the issue of standing up, they say, well, admiral mcgraven, he's the one who led the bin laden raid, one of america's true heroes, and now head of the texas university system -- they say mcgraven has stood up, and he did i mean, he's denounced trump and mattis and coats are saying, look what happened to him. everyone ignores him it makes no difference now, this, i think, addresses a key issue in all of this there is overtaken some people in our business, in the media business, and in the country, a fatalism, a sense of nothing matters. i go back to the great leader at the "washington post," ben bradlee, who during watergate, during his tenure, he always took the approach, look, we present the facts. sometimes people, it has an impact, sometimes it doesn't but we're not in the business of trying to have, direct some sort of even political outcome. we just march on and do our stor

former defense secretary, jails mattis, james mattis, we talked about. dan coats. talk to me about what they said about woodward. >> general mattis is quoted by woodward saying that trump is dangerous, unfit, has no moral compass. also, an interesting story about defense secretary mattis, at the time. he was so worried that the united states might get into a hot war with north korea. woodward recounts these extraordinary scenes, where mattis is going to the national cathedral, repeatedly, to pray because he's so worried that he may be put in a position of shooting and killing millions of people. and at the same time, he's actually sleeping in clothes, in shorts and t-shirt, so that he can get up in the middle of the night, in case there's a launch. it -- it -- it's just extraordinary. dan coats. then, the top intelligence official, director of national intelligence. one of the most shocking things that woodward writes about is that dan coats held suspicions that russia had something on president trump. and i just want to read a quick part of this. woodward writes,

just general mattis, defense secretary mattis wasn't born yesterday. he says to his aid, he listens to the story and says would you mind writing me an email about that? he memorializes it in realtime. knowing bob woodward, he may very well have a copy of that email. >> there were brutal assessments of trump's presidency, probably most brutal from top national security officials, former defense secretary mattis and dan coats. talk about what they told woodward. >> so let me go through a couple of them from then secretary of defense general mattis. he is quoted by woodward as saying trump was dangerous, unfit, has no moral compass. also, an interesting story about defense secretary mattis at the time, he was so worried that the united states might get into a hot war with north korea, woodward recounts these extraordinary scenes where mattis is going to the national cathedral repeatedly to pray because he is so worried that he may be put in a position of shooting and killing millions of people and at the same time, he's actually sleeping in clothes in the

he's unfit cnn.com quotes a passage saying that general mattis resigned as secretary of defense, quote, when i was basically directed to do something that i thought went beyond stupid to felony stupid "the washington post" quotes bob woodward's presentation of a conversation between secretary of defense mattis and the director of national intelligence dan coats with mattis telling coats the president has no moral compass to which the director of national intelligence replied, true to him a lie is not a lie. it is just what he thinks. he doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie. another passage in the book refers to the director of national intelligence having deep suspicions about the president's relationship with vladimir putin but he could not shake them. leading off our discussion tonight is john brennan, the former director of the cia he is a senior national security and intelligence analyst for msnbc and nbc news john brennan, i just want to give you an open shot here at everything you have taken in today from these woodward revelations and how you rank their import

and the director of national intelligence, dan coats, with mattis telling coats the president has no moral compass to which the director of national intelligence replied, true to him a lie is not a lie. it is just what he thinks. he doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie. another passage in the book refers to the director of national intelligence having deep suspicions about the president's relationship with vladimir putin coats saw how extraordinary it was, to see that, but it could not shake them leading off our discussion tonight is john brennan, the former director of the cia he is a senior national security and intelligence analyst for msnbc and nbc news john brennan, i just want to give you an open shot here at everything you have taken in today from these woodward revelations and how you rank their importance >> well, i think we're still going to find out a lot more when additional excerpts come out. it is not as though the american people needed any more evidence of donald trump's incompetence his dishonesty, callousness, and narcissism but he decided to prov

general mattis, defense secretary, dr. fauci, been at this 40 years. people of stature with damns opinions of the president. another thing that's in the book, relates to something else that's in the news right now. a lot of tension. the president lashing out at a report he called american war dead losers and suckers airing grievances with the generals in washington suggesting that the top people at the pentagon are out to get him in some way and just love wars. this is something woodward explored. the relationship with the generals. >> correct. woodward describes in his book that one of then defense secretary mattis' top aides who is named and quoted, not anonymous, was in a meeting in the oval office with president trump. it was a meeting about trade, and he heard president trump say and then he told defense secretary mattis, and i think we have a full veen screen up here. trump said my f-ing generals are a bunch of -- and you can read the word right there. what's interesting when the aide came and told mat is mattis aro, whose been around. send me an

maria: let me bring in mattie duppler. go ahead, mat mattie. mattie: so good to see you. so glad you brought up congress acting on healthcare. with your leadership, the passage of the tax cut and jobs act zeroed out the individual mandate. we know those that can least afford the mandate are the ones that can least afford it. what else can congress do to alleviate the burden of healthcare costs for the average american, with the ways they've tried to reduce the burden by using the tax code to reduce barriers for americans. do you you see more acts from congress being able to accomplish that? >> there needs to be more responsible work done from congress. of course, this goes back to the infamous speech where nancy pelosi said you have to pass the bill to find out what's in it. they rammed that thing through with nobody having read the bill because it was an unconstitutional law they wrote and it's increased costs, it's limited options for families, made healthcare less affordable for so many people, $10,000 deductibles for people with pre-existing conditions is lack of acce

here you have mattis. we know from john bolton's book he doesn't believe this president to be competent. you've heard kelly and tillerson, by the account of nikki haley, question his competence, talk about resisting his agenda. i've interviewed a number of people on the record for my own book who talk about the need to block this president's agenda because it was a danger to the country's national security interests. so, what you are left to question is do you believe all those people, former generals, stall warts of the republican party, or do you believe the president's claim that they're all never trumpers and not to be believed. there is a pattern here of people working for him at the highest levels, doubting his competence. by the way, the moment described in the book with mattis going to the national cathedral is specifically about north korea and his concerns at the time that the president was going to take this country to war unwittingly. and it reminds you what a dangerous time that was. >> it was

mattis didn't want to do it. mattis was a highly overrated general and i i let him go. he worked for obama and he got fired for obama also and i thought that was maybe just a fluke, maybe they had different views and he wanted the job very badly. i gave him the job. i didn't like in, i fired him and he was a terrible, to me, he was a terrible general and a bad leader and he wasn't doing the job with isis. he was not doing the job, in syria or iraq with respect to isis. i got rid of isis after he was gone. i did a great job and 100% of the caliphate got rid of them took out soulemani, took out the baghdadi founded isis he was trying to build it again after i wiped it out, and i said we have to fire him. he killed many many people. and soulemani likewise, soulemani was the biggest of them all. brian: do you regret not taking out assad, and was it because of russia being allied with them is why you didn't do it and do you regret not doing it? president trump: no i don't regret that. i could have lived either way with that. i considered him certainly not a good person, but

james mattis was then the defense secretary. how seriously did he take the threat of a nuclear war with north korea? >> you know, it's interesting. there's a quote from secretary of state pompeo saying they never knew whether it was a bluff or not. but then mattis took it so seriously and was so worried about getting into a hot war with north korea that the book describes these extraordinary scenes where mattis is going to the national cathedral repeatedly to pray. because he is worried and it's on his conscience what if they get into a hot war, what if a million people get killed? the other detail is that secretary -- then secretary mattis was actually sleeping in his clothes or shorts, something appropriate because he was ready to get up in the middle of the night and monitor any kind of strike. so, there is -- apart from covid, there is a striking story within the book about our relations with north korea. >> and woodward also reviewed some 27 letters exchanged between president trump and the north korea leader kim jong-un. c

among others, now we have this piece about mattis talking with coates again, he would like to come on i'd love to discuss this with him. lincoln had problems with general choose one it's not just because these guys are generals, were not talking about combat. were talking about in the political realm. this really is extraordinary, isn't. >> it is. i've not seen anything like it. it reminds me of either things that happen unfortunately all too commonly in foreign countries or in hollywood movies, the idea of a military coup against the president but it's not supposed to happen in real life in the united states so it's shocking. i hope members of the military are shocked and think i hope they get in touch with maybe some of the people who have formally in the military who are openly talking about this. if any of these guys are your friends they knock it off. you're not happen united states of america or the military. just stop talking like this and certainly don't act on anything like this. >> and i might add, you're righ right, unless you're on the wrong side. your book is the stakes,

this is after talking about how coats and mattis were so critical of him privately. the loathing was mutual, quote, of the president, not to mention my f-ing generals are a punch of pussies, they care more about alliances than they do about my trade deals, according to woodward. he goes on to talk about jared kushner, the son-in-law and senior adviser, quoted by woodward as saying, the most dangerous people around the president are overconfident idiots which woodward interpreted to mean mattis, tillerson, and then former national economic adviser gary cohn. so there is a continual thread throughout this of conflict between the president's national security advisers and the president, to say nothing of the military, and of course most recently we've seen and heard what has been written about the president's private comments about the military, as well as his public comments, to say nothing of john mccain. >> you know, i have referenced our conversation in normandy last year, when i brought plane loads of democrats and republicans to observe the 75th anniversary of the

i wish that dan coats and general mattis would be as forthright with what happened to spying on the trump campaign, perhaps we would be in a different spot now. >> martha: before i let you go, the question of another stimulus package, it doesn't look like there is much optimism that anything is going to get passed in congress right now. there's a new poll now that half of all households in major cities are having serious problems due to covid-19 pandemic appeared to depleted savings, problems paying credit card bills, black and latino households and all four cities were particularly vulnerable here, what do you say to them tonight about why there isn't any more aid forthcoming? >> there is one person in washington, d.c., that is acted on your behalf, that is the president of the united states, there's still one person willing to act and go further and compromise and make sure we get help coming to you. if you're hurting from this unemployment or you have insecure job future, this president wants to help. let's go ahead and pass a bill that we've agreed upon, whether it's o enhanced unempl

coats calls mattis as a cry from the heart. quote, coats said the mounting personal tensions between him and trump and their differences on the nature of the security threats were debilitating. this is not good mattis said. maybe we'll have to stand up and speak out. there may be a time we have to take clollective action. possibly coats said, there may. he's dangerous, unfit. it's an assessment mattis is not alone in having made. former military officers, cabinet secretaries and other officials endorse joe biden for president. the current president has demonstrated he's not equal to the enormous responsibilities of his office. he can't rise to meet challenges large or small. thanks to his failures our allies no longer trust or respect us and our enemies no longer fear us. joining us is the "washington post" assistant managing editor, the author of "rage" bob woodward. thank you so much for spending time with us. it's been a long book tour for you. >> thank you. yes. >> bob, i have to start with the news that donald trump made l

mattie duppler, your thoughts? and of course, all of these companies already have plans in place for distribution programs with the federal government once in fact the vaccine is ready. mattie: maria, that is an extremely important point. remember, we're only six months into this thing and we're already in phase three for a vaccine trial. that is an incredible rate for these companies to have gotten to this point. that is thanks in part to the trump administration's on of presentation warp speed that tried to get rid of some of the regulatory barriers to make sure we can have a vaccine, so we can look forward in the next year to start to return to life as normal. i think that is the environmental factor here that we need to stay focused on. we are light years ahead of where we've been in the past when we're trying to come up with a vaccine for a disease that is this confounding and this critical. maria: yeah. all great points. let's slip in a break. when we come back, jeff bezos marking another milestone, his new f

jim mattis, among them. it took some time. general eaton, i want to ask you about another topic because this caught our attention today. president trump was asked a very simple question about something that america's allies, closest allies, have blamed russia for. the poisoning of russian opposition leader alexei navalny. the president would not utter the simple words, this is bad or russia shouldn't have done it. listen how he answered, and i want to get your reaction. >> it is interesting that everybody's always mentioning russia. and i don't mind you mentioning russia. but i think, probably, china, at this point, is -- is a nation that you should be talking about, much more so than russia, because the things that china's doing are far worse, if you take a look at what's happening with the world. >> repeatedly, he will not call out russia on -- on this, on election interference, on bounties on u.s. forces in afghanistan, on dangerous encounters between russian aircraft and u.s. aircraft. all things that have been increasingl

from former defense secretary james mattis. he is quoted as saying, the president is dangerous, unfit and has no moral compass. he also says in another part of the book that, the president took foreign policy actions that showed adversaries how to destroy america. former director of national intelligence dan coats is quoted saying, the president doesn't know the difference between the truth and a lie, and as i mentioned earlier, dr. anthony fauci said, "trump's attention span is like a minus number," "his sole purpose is to get reelected." >> can i respond? >> of course. >> i think these are stasrtling statements. they're on the record. the white house can respond disparaging everybody quoted on the record in the book as i assume the white house will do, and we have heard this over and over and over again. i'm not sure exactly what the impact of this will be, of those people, because, of course, we've heard it before. the covid stuff, to me, which is, affects our lives, our children's lives, our parents' lives, that is somethin

there's so much in this book you've got mattis telling coats the president has no moral compass, that they may have to do something to remove him or do something because he's a danger. you now have a whistle-blower who said that the department of homeland security officials distorted intelligence to match trump's statements and lie to congress they're saying the trump administration's homeland security officials violated laws and policies by lying to congress, manipulating intelligence reports to conform to trump's political agenda. brian murphy who was a top department of homeland security intelligence analysis served from march 2018 to 2020, chad wolf telling mr. murphy to stop providing any intel on russian interference chad wolf dhs secretary having ken cuccinelli, his deputy to modify intelligence to make it look like antifa was a threat. your thoughts on that? >> well, it should be chilling to every american, joy i mean, the role of the department of homeland security is to secure our election infrastructure to work with the 50 states to make sure that our elections are not subj

woodward's book, jim mattis said is that trump is dangerous and unfit. dan coats, a former republican senator, trump doesn't know the difference between a truth and a lie. more revealing, coats suspects russia has influence over trump. i wonder, should mattis and others speak about this publicly rather than let it come out in a book? should your former boss john kelly given that we're 50 some odd days from the election say publicly i do not believe this president is fit for office? >> well, he can provide an opinion but that doesn't change anything. every person that serves in the administration whether it's me, whether it's miles taylor, whether it's general mattis, secretary mattis, secretary kelly, makes a personal decision about where that line is. and at what time they think it's appropriate to speak out and how. i do think on the one hand the revelations that have come out in recent days reinforce what we have heard not only from others about the president but from the president himself. so this is a pretty consistent picture. i don't know how much

but, again, i think i was serving as hot damage envoy when general mattis relayed those conversations and, again, he has a different approach than i do. i don't talk about my conversations with the president. apparently general mattis has a different view of that. >> bret: national security advisor robert o'brien thanks for coming back. >> thank you, bret, good to be with you. >> bret: joe biden taking his first crucial trip to florida as democratic nominee. he will participate in national heritage month in kissimmee at the bottom of the hour. a look at that bit later. first now familiar exchanges about the fitness of the two candidates at the top of the two tickets. correspondent peter doocy has the latest on the campaign tonight from wilmington, delaware. >> joe biden argues the president should be disqualified because of his words. >> president trump has proven he is unfit to hold the office of the president time again. >> president trump argues joe biden should be disqualified because of his mind. >> john is lost. joe is lost. we can't have a president that's that is mentally lost

you are friends with general kelly and general mattis. based on what you know, is it your understanding that president trump said these things? >> let's start with the basics, which is as nato commander, i was in and out of the cemeteries repeatedly. these are shrines to those who have given everything. so this is big casino. this is important. this matters deeply. in my view, the president's problem here is that it sounds like him. he called, for example, senator john mccain a great war hero of this nation a loser. he talks constantly about how we are suckers or being s for bei treaties we are in with nato. it has a ring of truth to me. i was not there. but those who have firsthand knowledge i think should step up and either confirm or deny this story. >> you have said that general john kelly s confirm or deny the story. obviously, that would settle it very quickly. why do you think he hasn't spoken out publically on such a big issue? >> i think for any retired military, it is a great leap to have to stand up publically and do something

but i quote jim mattis who was the secretary of defense the first two years for trump. i quote him in the book saying something that i thought quite interesting and true. mattis said trump supporters believe in him even if they don't believe what he says, they believe in him. and i think that's true. i think trump hit a cord in 2016. i talked to trump at length about this that trump kind of seized history's clock at that moment. the republican party and the democratic party didn't realize what was going on in our country. lots of people felt alienated from the elite, you and me. and a lot of people in our business went out and said, remember what did hillary call these people? the intolerables. we didn't spend enough time, and i put myself at the head of that list, understanding the trump voter. i'm trying to understand the trump voter, and i think it's critical. these people, they have -- they have latched onto trump, and trump knows that. they're going to follow him. and it's very much a mistake like some of our fellow columnists will say, if you don't agree with us a

first, woodward says that mattis, general mattis said that the president is dangerous and unfit. former official coates doesn't know the difference between a truth and a lie he said about the president. and you said in your own book that you, now secretary of state pompeo and treasury secretary mnuchin that you were all worried. worried about what? >> well, worried about the way the president conducted affairs with foreign governments in many cases in my view coming close to if not crossing the line on obstruction of justice, interfering in prosecutions and investigations in this country. it was very hard for people. and remains very hard for people in the administration to know how to handle the president in these cases. everybody had a different take on it. but there's never been an administration in contemporary history anyway where so many people went in hoping to serve the country and just finally came to a realization they couldn't live with their own conscience and continue to do it. the country suffers when that happens. >> here is the criticism that always assures i don'

the former defense secretary jim mattis, joe dun ford. there are several notable figures who have been silent over the last 24 hours and i think that could really do a lot to change the trajectory of this story. >> you covered this white house while john kelly was serving as chief of staff. i see the kind of person who at this point might take this moment to challenge the president here. >> that's a big question that a lot of people are wondering. i don't think the president did himself a service in the briefing earlier to keep john kelly from coming forward and confirming the detail it is of the story if he could. of course, he hasn't weighed in either way so we're not sure what he would say. you saw the president going after him and the president and john kelly certainly had their bad moments when he was chief of staff. we reported at one point right before john kelly was removed as chief of staff they were not even on speaking terms but the way the president spoke about him earlier basically saying he was incompetent and couldn't live

he will just, as mattis, the secretary of defense said, you know, he, mattis, ran the defense department, got virtually no guidance from president trump and had to do it on his own and the tweets would come in, which would be orders that there had been no consultation on. i mean, it's a madness and sickness and organizational sickness so how do i step away from that? a dear friend of mine, christian williams from california who is a sailing companion, somebody i have known he was the arts editor at "the washington post" called me and said, of course you had to reach this conclusion. and he made the point, think of all the republicans in this country, in the senate, in the house who failed to reach the obvious conclusion given the evidence at hand and i thought -- and he said he would be on the phone screaming at me if i had not reached that conclusion so there it is it's -- there is a discussion of it that's fine. >> bob, some night i'd love you to come on to just discuss how ben bradley would -- >> i lost contact here. >> i think -- let's see. bob, i don't know if you can still hear me.

engage in torture, should we water board, and mattis said no, we do not torture, we do not water board people. i do support nato, i do support the importance of the eu. all of those issues are ones in which the president has expressed disdain for. he may try to diminish those who have served, he couldn't get rid of them fast enough, but i would be willing to put jim mattis on the line in terms of truth and testimony, in terms of validating the real heroes of this country, where president trump seems to only talk about money. one of his sons saying they're giving up a lot because of him being president, they're losing money. it all comes to money and to me. i think we've seen enough of president trump in terms of his character. that's beyond dispute at that point. there are those who support him, notwithstanding. to those who are watching and those mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers who have their family in the military, don't ever think that we -- the american people don't value them. when they are injured u that we celebrate them still. we put them in our parades, yes. we wa

they understand that secretary of defense james mattis, general mattis, he was there. he saw so much of this happening day in and day out. if what jeffrey were saying were true, then general mattis would speak out against it. so my good friends that i served with in the house of representatives that are now serving in the united states senate, i really hope they will speak out in defense of our troops and defense of service to this country. >> i want to turn now to a very stark contrast to what we've just been talking about. and that is joe biden's visit yesterday to wisconsin where he met -- and his wife, jill, as well, met privately with members of jacob blake's family for a 90 minute conversation. jacob also joined by phone. the meeting took place in milwaukee before biden headed to kenosha, where blake, a black man was shot seven times in the back by a white police officer and is now paralyzed. according to the blake family's attorney, the family was impressed with the meeting. the former vice president then participated in a community meeting in kenosha where he s

i know a lot of those folks and i have served a long time with dan coats, i know mattis, a fine guy. i just -- i think trump has just stunned everyone around him, just how corrupt his thinking is. think about this. remember he said under oath -- not under oath. he said to the american people that he didn't get that briefing on how dangerous coronavirus was. he didn't get that from the intelligence committee. he never read the reports. didn't have anything to do with that. he saw the reports. he knew them in detail. at least we know he can read. think about it. think about how misleading it was and all those folks and why did he not? let's assume he didn't want to worry people. why in god's name didn't he move quicker on the defense production act to provide ppe, the protective equipment for doctors and first responders. why didn't he do that? okay. he says he didn't want to panic people. make sure people are the equipment they need. say this is in caution. he didn't even do that. >> how do you make the connection -- i have relatives all over the country, all over the political spectr

including former defense secretary, james mattis. secretary general, i should say, james mattis. and dni -- former dni, dan coats. former secretary of state, rex tillerson. how damaging is that? that so many people who have seen this president, up close and personal, working whith him are making it abundantly clear, now, that they don't think he is fit to serve. >> well, i tell you what, i think it's very hard for people to keep track of all this information. all these tell-alls coming out. because it's just -- there's too many characters in this story. and so, i think we need to distill it down to what they're saying because they're all, really, saying the same thing. if you're james mattis or even if you're michael cohen. they're all coming out, and saying that donald trump leans on people to engage in unethical and even, you know, sometimes criminal behavior. i mean, john bolton. why he resigned. they all tell the same story. i mean, donald trump's name should mean -- be equated with corruptive influence. and you ask why are they telling us now? well, obviously, to get the inf

mattis. lou: absolutely. well, we're going to take this up in the days ahead, and it's also why i was very careful to quote mr. woodward on those terms. it's his claim, that those words fell from general mattis' leaderships. lips. we'll see what the truth is about that and so much else. jim handton, thanks so much. -- hanson. congratulations on the new book. >>> also i is have a new book. it's not out yet. "the trump century: how the president changed the course of history forever," available now at our new merchandise store, loudobbsshop.com. and you can get a 15% discount by entering the code dobbs. it works wonders at the loudobbsshop.com. stay with us, we're coming right back. rking. and innovation is at the heart of it. verizon 5g ultra wideband is the fastest 5g in the world, . . . of select cities around the country. which means businesses both large and small can innovate like never before. ♪. lou: president trump today in the white house schooling the left-wing national media, the white house press

killing would have happened he said if it wasn't for opposition from his former defense secretary jim mattis is it true that after assad guess children for the 2nd time that it was you they wanted to take out assad that you had a good side on him i would have rather take him out i could have all said mattis didn't want to do it such as the assassination of president assad by the united states never even discussed the book is total fiction washington says bashar al assad committed crimes against his own nation including multiple alleged chemical attacks with syria and its military ally russia have always denied any involvement done to mcadams the executive director at the wrong paul institute says trump flippant admission now could have dangerous consequences. that is made early in 2018 that the u.s. had no evidence that assad was the heinz either the attack or the cain she couldn't act attacked in syria in a fact or only source of evidence were the white helmet who were basically working with al-qaeda in syria so we're going to believe al qaeda over russia and assad who are busy trying to fi

killing would have happened he said if it wasn't for opposition from his former defense secretary jim mattis is it true that after assad guess children for the 2nd time that it was you they wanted to take out assad that you had a good side on him i would have rather taken him out i could have all said mattis didn't want to do it. because the assassination of president assad by the united states never even discussed the book is total fiction well washington says bashar al assad committed crimes against his own nation including multiple alleged chemical attacks both syria and its military ally russia has denied any involvement daniel mcadams the executive director of the rumpole institute says tribes flippant admission could have dangerous consequences. that is made early in 2018 that the u.s. had no evidence that assad was the heinz either the attack or the cain she couldn't act attacked in syria in a factor only source of evidence were the white helmet who were basically working with al-qaeda in syria who are going to believe al qaeda over russia and assad who are busy trying to fight al qai

i had disagreements with people like mattis. if i had a better answer for you, i would be happy to give it. you try to make the contribution you can and prevent bad things from happening. >> a group of people have no reason to concern or coordinate their answer, there are so many of you who had high positions, look, i was afraid of what would happen. i also wanted people to know and they had the same struggle you say you have. there is only one thing required for your book to be healthy and it is an open mind. the book has done very well rega regardless. john bolton, sir, thank you very much for coming on the show. we'll see you again. >> thanks for having me. i appreciate it. >> be well. >> all right, so now what is the effect of what the president admitted on the tape? as i pointed out, you saw echo effect, other officials had to stay quiet and could not tell you the truth because he did not wa want to. you saw other governors would echo him like what happened in texas until it got burned and what happened in georgia and flori

you're right that general kelly and mattis both came out but not very actively. it was just mostly about the president going over to the church and bringing the military with him for what was widely perceived as a political stunt. but for the most part they've kind of kept quiet. we'll see if that continues with this current situation, this current controversy. thank you so much congressman ted lu. appreciate it. >>> let's go back to louisville, kentucky. jason carroll is there. we've established coms with you. you are outside churchill downs. what's the scene like right now? >> just a short while ago we heard from tim finley, jr., pastor finley. he talked about the need, the cig nave cancel to be out here today. as you see the marchers trying to go past the front entrance to churchill downs, you're not going to see the fans inside there. everyone out here knows that. they talked about the significance of being here because all ears and eyes are on louisville. they want to make sure that on this day that those who are watching know that there are thousands upon t

killing would have happened he said if it wasn't for opposition from his former defense secretary jim mattis is it true that after assad gas children for the 2nd time that it was you they wanted to take out assad that you had a good side on him i would have rather taken him out i could have all said mattis didn't want to do it. because the assassination of president assad by the united states never even discussed the book is total fiction washington says bashar al assad committed crimes against his own nation including multiple alleged chemical attacks both syria and its military ally russia have always denied any involvement don't know mcadams the executive director of the ron paul institute says trump's flippant admission could have dangerous consequences. that is needed early in 2018 that the u.s. had no evidence that assad was behind either the attack or the cain she couldn't act attacked in syria in a factor only source of evidence were the white helmet who were basically working with al-qaeda in syria so we're going to believe al qaeda over russia and dogs who are busy trying to fight

woodward writing james mattis called the president dangerous and unfit for office. and dr. anthony fauci said trump's attention span is like a minus number and his sole purpose is to get re-elected. >> i don't really want to get involved in the kind of stuff -- that is very distracting to the kind of things that i'm trying to do and that we're all trying to do with this outbreak. >> and as racial injustice has fueled protest and unrest across the country and is taking center stage as an election issue, trump dismissed concerns about black american's frustration. >> do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent, as it put me, and i think, lots of white privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country? do you -- >> no! you really drank the kool-aid, didn't you? listen to you! wow! no, i don't feel that at all. >> so the biggest takeaway is that the president revealed he knew how contagious and deadly this virus was, goin

general mattis, secretary mattis has come out and said that what he saw were tactics that sought to divide all americans that were reminiscent of the nazis. the comments about john mccain not being the kind of p.o.w. that he likes, but someone that was captured and, therefore, not a good american hero. i guess my question to you is, we're in this climate where 40% of the country doesn't believe anything written. the fact that three news organizations have accounted for all of these statements from the president and that the public facing words match what has been reported in the story, where does that leave us considering the fact that, along with being president of the united states, he is the country's commander in chief? >> i think we're in trouble. really difficult situation. i assume biden will win. i hope he does. we need civility. we need respect for the rule of law. we need pragmatic thinking. but if biden is elected, it's going to take him four years to try and bring us back together. trump has inflamed this country. some of it was underlyingan taganism and racism, but a lot of it

i'm not a fan of general mattis. i think he's a very overrated general. i guess he is a nice guy. he just didn't do the job for me. he didn't do the isis job. after we got rid of him, it worked out well. we took over 100% of the caliphate. to the free world leaders today, these are highly respect to leaders and countries, the uae is a tremendously respected warrior. they are warriors. they are a respected country. if you listen to what they said, nobody thought of the plan i thought of and going around the back door. i call it going around the smart door. we have many other countries were going to be joining us. haven i think we will seven or eight or nine, a lot of other countries joining us, including the big ones. we already have the big one but including the other big ones. the people you mentioned would be able -- would not be able to be doing. it's not something my critics thought was possible and now they say that was a good idea. it has gotten rave reviews even from the new york times and a lot of people that don't like donald trump too much, they have given literally rave

it we have not heart from mattis or dan coats. they held some of the most important jobs in the administration and the things are saying are a damning indictment from of the president. when mattis was saying when he was defense secretary he would go to the national cathedral and pray for the state of the nation under the command of donald trump. saying he was unfit and dangerous to be president and conversations with dan coats, the director of national intelligence about whether or not they should speak out in a collective fashion against the things that the president was saying. there are so many moments in the donald trump presidency, brooke, that are stunning and surprising and remarkable and unlike any other white house that we've covered. but to have the former defense secretary and the former director of national intelligence, two people the president picked to put in that job, saying something like that, asking if they should come out and tell the american public what they really think of the president is incredibly notable

but they were, you know, general mattis and general kelly. they were seen as the responsible adults that were going to go into the administration. they would be the ones that led policy in the military and protect homeland. you saw them leave in a spectacular way in terms of the resignation. general mattis loving a darning matter. they have been consistent about remaining silent. these are people inside the inner circle that have heard possibly these comments or other comments about the military, about law enforcement, about christianity as being another one that's sort of a bed rock of trump supporters. and if someone were to come out and say, hey, look, i was there. i'm not going to support this any further, i think it would be a game changer. i just know the folks that are in there by and large are known to keep their mouth shut. they thought public servants are there and they don't want to be seen as influencing politics. they could put a shift particularly with military veterans. >> clint watts, anita kumar, peter baker, thank you all th

and as those quotes you were talking about from mattis and others, dem straight his unfitness to the president and more than anything, instead of leveling with the country, he covers up. we listen to him cover up this grave national emergency. this is one of the great presidential felonies of all time, maybe the greatest presidential felony. and we have the smoking gun tape of the president committing the felony. >> there are recordings like you said. there's a smoking gun tape. it will be hard for the president to deny what he said, but i think we already got a preview of what's going to happen coming from the white house press briefing today, has kayleigh mcenany lied and threw out information which was inaccurate, some of which was misleading. there's going to be a full asaumt coming from the white house on what is in this book. >> yes, there will be. it's up to republicans especially to counter that lie. at this point if the republican leadership, mcconnell, mccarthy, and others try to contradict this obvious grave dereliction of duty by the president of the united states that is

but now there's a lot specifically that woodward is reporting on general mattis, former defense secretary, dan coats, the former dni, reporting from cnn, we learned that they had such concerns that mattis would sleep in his clothes at one point, afraid that he was going to be awakened and have to stop the use of nuclear weapons, that north korea would actually launch, that we could have been close to war, that he would pray at the national cathedral. >> well, this president likes to use the military and the might of america's nuclear arsenal and america's military for his own ego. he's all about stroking his own ego. it's not about keeping americans safe. we know that because of the lies he told about the pandemic, we now have almost 200,000 dead americans. time and again he's taken the words of our adversaries over those of our own intelligence community. he still has not demanded an investigation into whether or not russia put bounties on the heads of american troops. he has denigrated gold star families. he has denigrated the same generals that he used to call "my generals," now he say

mad dog mattis that soured quickly. within months, the president was in private e meetings that we and others reported on disparaging the generals, saying they didn't know anything because they weren't on the ground mostly, it speaks to this larger thing we've seen with the president, he likes people until they tell him something he can't do or something he shouldn't do something he wants to do that's where we saw this relationship with the president and his generals really fray the kim jong-un stuff is really interesting. the president talks about his letters to him, but says his letters to kim jong-un are private. that's classified. can't see those. we get this portrait f what kim jong-un says about president trump, calling him your exlensy, really flattering language, and we don't know what president trump wrote back because those aren't disclosed >> to let this sink in, folks, generals are dummies in trump's view kim jong-un is magical i want to get you both on the record on the breaking news this afternoon from "th

mattis say my f ---ing generals are a bunch of expletive. on the black lives matter movement the president blows off mr. woodward's question about whether mr. trump is blinded by white privilege. >> do you have any sense that that privilege has isolated and put you in a cave to a certain extent? as it put me, and i think lots of white, privileged people in a cave and that we have to work our way out of it to understand the anger and the pain, particularly black people feel in this country? >> no. you really drank the kool-aid. listen to you. wow. no, i don't feel bad at all. >> white house officials are now pointing fingers over who is to blame for allowing the president to talk to bob woodward. multiple sources tell us the president and his son-in-law jared kushner signed off on the interviews. kushner also spoke to woodward for the book. the president appears to only have himself to blame. as we're told he went around his own press office to speak to the legendary journalist. aides to the president had concerns and, quote, voiced them repe