Sometimes sharp questions dealing with the russia investigation and his meetings with russian officials. Why did he refuse to answer questions about the firing of fbi director james comey. About face. Less than a day after appearing to back a Bipartisan Senate plan for a shortterm health care fix, President Trump comes out against it, calling the proposal a bailout for Insurance Companies. Now one lawmaker says without the president s support, the compromise is stalled. Why did President Trump change his mind . And desperate need. A month after Hurricane Maria, we find Puerto Ricans in remote area of the island struggling to live day by day, and volunteer relief workers frustrated by the lack of support from fema. Why is federal help still failing to reach so many people . We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. Breaking news tonight. The white house is defending President Trumps condolence call to the widow of sargeened la David Johnson. One of four american soldiers killed in an isis ambush in niger. The family and Democratic Congress woman Fredricka Johnson say mr. Trump told johnsons wife, and im quoting now, he knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurt. And the white house is confirming tonight that the president today sent a 25,000 personal check to the family of another fallen soldier, money that was reportedly promised months ago. The white house also says the president cannot support a Bipartisan Senate plan to restore obamacare subsidies for the poor that were cut by mr. Trump, who initially indicated his backing of this latest compromise agreement. Now the white house and the president are calling it a bailout for Insurance Companies and a top gop senator says without the president s support, the plan is stalled. And attorney general Jeff Sessions was in the Senate Hot Seat today, testifying before the Judiciary Committee for almost five hours and sometimes rather contentious exchanges. He was asked about collusion between the Trump Campaign and russia, which he denied. And about the firing of fbi director james comey, which he refused to discuss, citing confidential conversations with the president. Were covering all of that and much more this hour with our guests, including congressman Joaquin Castro of the house intelligence committee, and our correspondents and specialists are also standing by. But lets begin with the controversy right now over the president s phone call to the widow of a u. S. Soldier killed in an isis ambush in niger. Our White House Correspondent sara murray is joining us with the latest. The white house describes the president as respectful and sympathetic during that call, disputing strongly the Democratic Congress woman who heard it and called the president s words insensitive. Reporter thats right, wolf. This is, of course, the most difficult duty for any president to have to call a Family Member and awful condolences when a soldier has paid the ultimate price, but now President Trump is under scrutiny not only for his tone in one of those phone calls but also why it took him nearly two weeks to address this attack on u. S. Soldiers. The commander in chief sparking controversy again today. Facing criticism for his handling of one of his most solemn duties, a condolence call to the widow of a u. S. Serviceman killed in niger. 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 arent too surprised to hear that. The president disputing an account that he told the widow Myeshia Johnson her husband knew what he signed up for, but i guess it still hurt. Sergeant la David Johnson was killed in an isis attack in niger in early october. The account of the conversation came from congresswoman fredricka wilson, a florida democrat who was present for trumps call. She admonished the president wednesday. This is a grieving widow. A grieving widow who is six months pregnant. This is a young woman. Shes only 24 years old. When she actually hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, he didnt even know his name. Now, thats the worst part. Sergeant johnsons mother, who was also present for the call, confirmed the congresswomans account to cnn. Despite the president s denials, the white house isnt disputing the specific words he used, but aides insist trumps tone was appropriate. The president s call, as accounted by multiple people in the room, believe that the president was completely respectful, very sympathetic. And expressed the condolences of himself and the rest of the country. And thanked the family for their service, commended them for having an American Hero in their family. And i dont know how you could take that any other way. The incident adding to the scrutiny of trumps response to the attack that left four u. S. Soldiers dead. It was the deadliest combat incident involving u. S. Troops since he took office. When asked earlier this week why he didnt address it publicly for nearly two weeks, trump turned it into an exercise in political scoreboarding. Falsely claiming president obama and others did not call the families of Fallen Soldiers. If you look at president obama and other president s, most of them didnt make calls, a lot of them didnt make calls. The latest controversy enveloping the administration comes as trump tries again to jump start his legislative agenda. Today, trump axed a bipartisan deal to reinstate obamacare cost sharing subsidies which help lowincome enrollees buy health care, insisting theyre nothing but a bailout for insurers. They have been enriched by obamacare like nothing anybody has seen before. Im not going to do anything to enrich the Insurance Companies. Thats after suggesting he would be open to such a compromise a day earlier. The solution would be for about a year or two years and it will get us over this intermediate hump. Today, the president shifted to tax reform in a meeting with the Senate Finance committee. Insisting the time is right for a major legislative overhaul. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, in my opinion. This is something that will be really unique. The timing is right. Now, as the president turns to his legislative agenda, questions are not going to go away about this attack in niger. Arizona senator john mccain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, says the white house has not been forthcoming about this attack. Thank you. Sara murray at the white house. Also tonight, the Washington Post is reporting that President Trump promised the father of another fallen soldier 25,000 over the summer. Our White House ReporterCaitlin Collins is working the story. Shes got details. The white house is confirming that President Trump sent a personal check to the family just today. Reporter yeah, thats right, wolf. Amid all this rising scrutiny over the president s claim that hes mow more attentive to the families of Fallen Soldiers than his predecessors have been, the Washington Post published a story today that said when the president called one grieving family, he offered them 25,000, but never followed through. The Washington Post reported that the president had called Chris Baldridge after his son who was just 22 years old, was killed in afghanistan over the summer. They say the president called him a few weeks later and during this 15minute or so long phone call with the father, they started discussing the militarys Survivor Benefits program, that the president then offered to write him a check for 25,000. Now, Chris Baldridge, the father, said he was floored by this offer, that he was surprised the president would offer something so generous during this conversation. But he says that when he got a condolence letter from the president and from the white house, that there was no check in there, and that he was disappointed by that after the president had made this promise of this amount of money. Now, after the Washington Post published the story, the white house issued a statement this afternoon saying that the check had been sent and that they were disgusted that the media was trying to advance its agenda by portraying this as anything except a generous gesture by the president because the white house has confirmed that this was a personal check, but my sources inside the white house are telling me now that this check was not sent until today, wolf. And this comes as everyone is disputing the president s claim about these calls to Fallen Soldiers, and its just another story to add to the white houses list that theyre going to have to respond to. Is the white house explaining why the president never wrote the check until the Washington Post contacted the white house, informed them that theres no check, is the white house explaining why the delay . Reporter no, theyre not explaining that. Instead, when we asked why the check had not been sent, they confirmed it had been sent and went after the media for the way theyre portraying this story, but the fact is, wolf, this man was killed in june while serving. His father was contacted by the president weeks later, and that check was not sent until midoctober. Caitlin, thanks very much. Caitlin collins at the white house reporting for us. Theres more breaking news were following. Politico is reporting that the white house staff did draft a sympathy statement about the u. S. Troops killed in the niger ambush, but it was never released. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto is working this part of the story. And there are new details, i understand, jim. Reporter wolf, thats right. In fact, moments ago, the white house confirming to cnn in a statement obtained by sara murray that this statement was drafted in the president s name the very day after the attack. Here is the white houses explanation for why that statement was never released to the public. It goes like this. A white house official says that the statement was crafted by the nsc when the Communications Department received the information, staff decided it would be more powerful for Sarah Sanders to deliver this information from the podium. It was more important to elevate it, this official telling cnn, and the issue from the podium. Now, to be clear, the president himself did not comment at all on those Fallen Soldiers for some 12 days after the attack. And he, of course, had multiple opportunities to do so, from twitter, his favorite, often his favorite means of communicating with the public, in numerous encounters with reporters, also, of course, the possibility of issuing a statement in his name from the white house during that time period, but it never happened. And the president , as you remember, wolf, during that time period, made Public Comments about many things, from the nfl to tax plans and beyond. But he did not comment on those Fallen Soldiers for nearly two weeks. I should say that hard questions are now being raised about what i think you might say is really one of the most important things here, and thats exactly what went wrong. Why did those four soldiers die . We heard from senator mccain who is on the Senate Armed Services committee, and he said that the white house is not being forthcoming in explaining. The white house and the department of defense not being forthcoming in terms of what happened there. These are the hard questions now facing the u. S. Military. Did something go wrong . Was there search and rescue available enough to extract the soldiers, the wounded, and you remember, it was a couple days before the fourth soldier, that is sergeant thompson, who has been at the center of the flap today before his body was found, so there are hard questions now to be answered, and some of those questions coming from senator mccain himself saying the white house has not been forthcoming to him as he asked those questions. And military investigation, we should note, is under way. Wolf. What i dont understand is why do they think a statement from the press secretary would elevate the whole issue as opposed to a statement from the president of the United States . Reporter well, frankly, wolf, i cant explain that rationale. I dont see how it is elevated to go from the president s name to the name of the press secretary. It doesnt make a lot of sense. At least that explanation. I should note that the circumstances, my colleagues and i who were reporting on this raid that night remember that there was initial concern about a missing soldier. And there were operations under way to possibly rescue this soldier. They didnt know his status at that point. So you could make an argument in the immediate aftermath, you did not want to have a statement about four deaths when you werent sure about the fourth death, but that does not give any explanation for the 12 days that followed the nearly two weeks that followed that the president himself made no comment, and you could argue in the last 24 hours, somewhat fumbled communications with the families of those lost. Not even a tweet during those 12 days from the president. The original statement was drafted, the president s name and the first ladys name, and eventually was released in the name of the White House Press secretary. All right, jim sciutto reporting for us. Thanks very much. Lets get more on all of this. Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro of texas is joining us. Hes a member of the house intelligence committee. Congressman, what questions do you have about this entire niger operation, how it unfolded, how the Trump Administration handled the deaths of these four american soldiers . Well, there are so many questions that really havent been answered at this point. How we lost four Service Members, how they were ambushed and killed. What their mission was exactly at the time. The president still has to explain that to the congress. But even more than that, to the American People. Now, the response to that and why the president didnt mention the four Service Members who were killed or reach out to the families for a few weeks is also something that hes got to explain. I thought that he bungled the situation with sergeant johnsons widow yesterday. Whether the president whatever the president said, its clear that she and her family perceived it to be belittling of her husband, and were offended by it and insulted by it. And this is a president that unfortunately has shown a callousness in sensitive situations. I would say that when he talked about john mccains Service Record and said that he wasnt a war hero, thats something that is sacrosanct among the american public, the issue of p. O. W. S. This president is not very good when sensitivity is required. So you believe that the president should have immediately released that statement that was drafted by the National Security council, in addition to the statement that the press secretary delivered the following day. Because it did take the president , what, 12 days to comment on the deaths of these four american soldiers. He absolutely should have. And the longer he waited to do that, the more questions arose about why exactly he hadnt said anything and what the holdup was. Lets turn to the other breaking news, the president s phone calls with goldstar families. Do you believe the president was going to follow through on his promise of that 25,000 check before the Washington Post actually contacted the white house and told them about that report which appeared today, and only after the report appeared did the president send the check . Its very suspicious. It sounds like the president got called out on something and so he had to follow through on sending 25,000. What i dont get is why he would make that promise and then not immediately follow through on it. Again, this is a father and a family thats grieving, and to add to that grief by overpromising and then underdelivering is something that i just dont get. After accusing a previous president s, congressman, of not calling the families of Fallen Soldiers, President Trump brought up the death of his white house chief of staffs son in afghanistan back in 2010, but listen to how the white house responded to all of this earlier today. I think that general kelly is disgusted by the way that this has been politicized and that t