putting even that aside, what do we know for sure about this delay about the check? because the white house is trying to make it sound as though it just had to go through a vetting process. the father who was promised the check said he never heard anything. >> that's right. the father was promised the check, i believe, a few months ago or at least many weeks ago. and it wasn't until my colleagues at "the washington post" started reporting this story that the white house announced that a check was in the mail. so we don't know exactly when that check went in the mail, but you can sort of put two and two together and figure it out. that the media attention is what spurred this all into action. and it speaks to a broader issue here which is that this is a president who doesn't have any experience in the military. he's not had years of experience dealing with military families. he's not been in public service until now. he had these draft deferments in vietnam. he just doesn't seem very comfortable dealing with these issues. and we saw it on the campaign and he got into the fight with the gold star family the khans