it was the deadliest combat incident since he took office, and yet there was silence. not even a tweet. today the president said he wrote personal letters to their families and planned to call them later this week. then he claimed his predecessors, including president obama, didn't call the families of fallen soldiers, even though that is a well-established tradition that previous presidents did carry out. last hour i spoke to former clinton white house chief of staff leon panetta who said this. >> i think it would be well for president trump -- we're now ten months into his administration that rather than seeking some kind of scapegoats in the past with president obama or other presidents, that he now accept responsibility for what he does. he can figure out his own approach to how he deals with loved ones who've been lost in the field of battle. >> back now with the panel. jason, was this just a way of deflecting attention on the fact that he had not said anything public about this even though he had time to play golf and tweet out and watch television, to just kind of turn this into an