Page 95 - Sergeant Johnson News Today

Choice of words. we have been saying left behind. he wasnt left, he was separated from his unit and that unit never stopped looking for him. >> and that is certainly your impression as well. >> yeah. i think he was per tur bed by some of the terminology and strikes to the heart of who we are as a military. we dont leave anybody behind. >> what do you want to know? you want to know the la david johnson was still alive when they were separated? obviously, the condition of his remains when they wer...

Not, i think its the right approach to say, the american people deserve answers, were gonna give it to them, and theyre gonna get those answers when we know the truth. >> dana: he does help calm the situation down, as we all love to fine out the answers, but we dont need to get ahead of ourselves. bernard, your thoughts? >> i was struck, absolutely, dana, by the contrast in tone and approach and demeanor of the defense secretary, who clearly is a grown-up, and the president, who is not. this pre...

Its not an issue appropriately politicized. but it makes it very difficult for those around him to work with him. weve seen this time and again. of course, even though it creates a distancing, it makes it more difficult to work with the president. because every congress persons constituency cares about this. but hes recovered from this over the years. so its unlikely to do damage. there are other things getting in his way. >> we have witnessed he does bounce back and senator john mccain says he ...

Timeline of this ambush. joining us, john kirby. a former spokesman for the pentagon and the state department. this ambush was on october 4th. take us through the timeline. >> thats right, wolf. wednesday, october 4th. it was on that day officials tell us the 12-man green barea led just completed a meeting with local leaders and were walking back to their unarmored pick up trucks when the ambush resulted in a fire fight that lasted about 30 minutes until french fighter jets arrived to fly low pa...

Did they know how many people were on the ground that they needed to get out. the remaining question, what happened to sergeant la david johnson? how did he get left behind? alisyn, chris? obviously that is the most heartbreaking, lingering question. barbara, thank you very much. lets bring in our pam. cnn military analyst colonel steve lauren and army brigadier general anthony tata, the author of the book "besieged." great to have boat of you and expertise with us. there is protocol once sold...

Nearly asseight years ago. steven bishop joins us now. thank you so much for being here. obviously you have lived through this heartbreak yourself. what has it been like to watch this spat play out between sergeant johnsons family and the president? >> i kind of find it unbelievable that this is even happening to another gold star family. >> what do you wish would happen? where did this fall apart? where did this go wrong in your mind? >> in my mind, and just going back from, you know, my experi...

May be the most unseemly and least presidential argument from a very argumentative president. it comes in the wake of a story you first heard on this show last night. congresswoman wilson saying the president told a widow of sergeant johnson, who lost his life in a niger raid, quote, he knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurts. and his widow confirmed that account of the conversation today. president trump preparticular actively fighting back, insisting he never said that. but this...

People behind on the battlefield. he is very strong on that point. but we do know that la david johnsons 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 didnt 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 dont think anybody has really questione...

President trump somehow managing to make a bad situation much worse, worse today insisting that congresswoman wilson is wrong in that he never told the widow of sergeant la david johnson, quote, he knew what he signed up for but i guess it still hurts. >> say what that congresswoman said, i didnt say it at all and she knows it. shes now not saying it. >> here to discuss now cnn political commentators. did she retract her comments to any of your knowledge. >> not to my knowledge. >> nope. >> so t...

Was left within those two days because that signal was still going on. she also said there was not armored vehicles for the -- for the mission there in niger. she said it was about the mission against boko haram, the group that kidnapped the schoolgirls from niger. she also found that equipment was not sufficient, meaning weaponry. >> not enough fire power? >> shes concerned about that, shes also concerned -- not enough fire power. she said they were ambushed, straight ambush. she said there sho...