Taxadvantaged Retirement Plan used by millions of americans. Does Congress Even have a tax cut plan . And so prepared. As tensions grow with kim jongun, President Trump now says the u. S. Is prepared for anything. Could the administrations tough talk be leading towards a Military Conflict with north korea . Im wolf blitzer. Youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Breaking news. Under growing pressure from congress, the pentagon goes public with an attempt to explain how four u. S. Troops were killed in a secretive deployment in niger. Joint chiefs chairman general Joseph Dunford says the families of the fallen and the American People are owed more information, but hes offering few details on the deadly ambush, saying the u. S. Troops did not expect resistance, were attacked by a larger force and requested support an hour after coming under fire. Still unanswered, why it took 48
condolence letters to Fallen Soldiers after the president s remarks in the rose garden last week. The official said during this process, a discovery was made that there were, quote, bureaucratic reasons for some of the reasons why some of the letters hadnt gone out to the families. Letters and contacts were delayed because the Service MemberKilled In Action had been involved in what they called multiple casualties incidents. This official said the white house directed the condolence letters be sent out. Kwofl . All right, jim, thank you. Jim acosta over at the white house. Lawmakers certainly have plenty of questions on the niger ambush and the overall u. S. Deployment there. Lets go to our senior Congressional Correspondent manu raju. Manu, members of congress, i assume theyre going to get their own briefings. Reporter yeah, they certainly are, wolf. And also calling for more information from the Trump Administration. Something we just started to see today when the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff for the first time laying out in detail the timeline of events that happened, explaining that these u. S. Forces were on a Reconnaissance Mission and
trying to combat this attack from these forces in niger, but what the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff also made clear, wolf, a lot of questions remain unanswered. Tonight, the pentagon revealing new details about the ambush in niger that killed four u. S. Soldiers. There is a perception that the Department Of Defense has not been forthcoming. Reporter the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff revealing that u. S. Forces were on a Reconnaissance Mission and on their bway back to their Operating Base in niger when the fire fight began, but they waited one hour to call for support. Important to note, when they didnt ask for support for that first hour, my judgement would be that that unit thought they could handle the situation without additional support. And so well find out in the investigation exactly why it took an hour for them to call. Reporter it took french fighter jets another hour to arrive on the scene, which was two hours after the ambush began. Dunford making clear many questions still remain. The mission of u. S. Forces change during the operation . Did our forces have adequate intelligence, equipment and training . Was there a premission assessment of the threat in the area accurate . Did u. S. How did u. S. Forces become separated during the engagement . Specifically Sergeant Johnson. And why did it take time to find and recover Sergeant Johnson . Reporter the comments come amid growing tension with capitol hill. Top lawmakers from both parties accused the administration of failing to disclose how four Service Members were killed in niger. Americans should know whats going on in niger, and one of the fights im having right now with the administration is the Armed Services committee is not getting enough information. They deserve it because we represent their families, too. Reporter questions have swirled since the october 3rd raid that left four american soldiers dead, killed in an ambush by up to 50 isisaligned
affiliates near the niger mali border. There has been conflicting information about what the american troops were doing at the time of the ambush and how they came under fire from the isis insurgency. Obviously there is something that they even dont know at this moment. Reporter another key question, why was the body of Sergeant La David Johnson found nearly a mile away from the scene of the ambush . Its one of the many questions that Sergeant Johnsons widow still has today. I dont know how he got killed, where he got killed or anything. I dont know that part. They never told me. Thats what ive been trying to find out since day one. Since october 4th. Reporter according to the pentagon, there are approximately 800 u. S. Troops in niger. Most are helping construct a drone base. While others are supporting Embassy Operations in the capital. The military says a fraction of these truoops are special operations forces, advising and assisting the nigerian military. The pentagon says its kept congress regularly informed, pointing to a letter trump sent hill leaders in june, saying the were there 945 troops in niger and cameroon performing counterterrorism duties. I didnt know there were 1,000 troops in niger. John mccain is right to tell the military because this is an endless war without boundaries, no limitation on time and geography. Youve got to tell us more. Reporter some say its the responsibility of members of congress to know what is happening in the region. I recoiled a little bit at that, truthfully. Theyre conducting five named operations, which im sure the Senate Armed Service committee should know about. Reporter now, on thursday, the Senate Armed Service committee will get its own briefing. A closed briefing when members of the pentagon will come and explain what they know what happened. One question that dunford said he could not answer today is exactly how Sergeant La David Johnsons body apparently was a mile away from the central scene of that ambush, saying he didnt
want to get into that because its still under investigation. Wolf, dunford also saying if Congress Doesnt Know Whats Happening here, then, quote, i need to double my efforts to get the information out. Wolf . Good point. All right, manu, thank you very much. Joining us now, senator ben cardin of maryland. Hes the senior democrat on the Foreign Relations committee. Senator, thanks very much for joining us. Lots of very disturbing questions on this niger ambush, but let me start with the president of the United States. Why do you believe he simply couldnt let the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson have the last word on this today . Shes grieving. Shes only 24 years old. She has two little kids, a third one on the way. Why did he need to get the last word and tweet about it this morning . Wolf, first, its good to be with you. Secondly, its hard to understand how the president handles these things. We saw the way he handled the khan family during the democratic convention. He seems to always want to get the last word, even when hes wrong, and its very frustrating
and obviously its a very difficult time for the family and its time that the president understands that. When do you believe that myesha johnson, the goldstar widow, and the American People will learn why it took nearly 48 hours to find Sergeant La David Johnsons body . Well, there are a lot of Unanswered Questions and i think its appropriate that well have briefings in congress as to what what went wrongs. First of all, understanding why our troops are there. This is under a 2001 authorization, which many of us think does not apply to having soldiers in northern africa. So i think there is a question as to whether congress has authorized the use of force in northern africa, and, secondly, why were not being kept readily informed. Why it took so long to get help, why the body was left, these are all questions that need to be answered. Did you know, senator, that there are almost 1,000 u. S. Troops deployed in niger . No, i did not. Im not part of the group that would have been formally notified about u. S. Troop presence, but i must tell you i do believe as the ranking democrat on senate Foreign Relations committee, the president of the United States should have come to congress to seek authorization for american troops that are put in a combattype situation. Let me switch gears while i have you for a moment. Youre the top democrat on the Foreign Relations committee. The former president jimmy carter has now publicly offered to travel to north korea to negotiate directly with kim jongun. Should the white house take him up on that offer . Well, we need a surge in diplomacy and weve talked about this before. I think we need to open up lines of communication. There is a path forward where we can achieve our objective of a nonnuclear Korean Peninsula and that the kim jongun regime can get the type of assurances they
want that the United States will respect the current 38th Parallel in korea. There are ways we can talk back and forth about the use of a military threat, and i hope the president would take advantage of every opportunity to do that. Well, should he take advantage of jimmy carters offer . I know thats one opportunity. I know that Secretary Tillerson has looked for other avenues of communication with north korea. I think using a former president who has i think a global reputation for pursuing peace would be a helpful step. Hes been an earlier visitor to north korea, brought Home Americans who were there as well. Another sensitive issue, u. S. russian relations, senator. Were told that President Trump may sit down with the russian president Vladimir Putin on whats called the sidelines of the Asian Pacific economic conference, the economic summit that takes place next month in vietnam. Do you believe that would be appropriate, the right thing to do . Well, i hope he has a controlled agenda if hes if he talks to mr. Putin. There are many issues that still
need to be answered, including russias meddling in the u. S. Elections and european elections, what their future intebts might be, what theyre doing in syria, what theyre doing in doing in ukraine. There are a lot of questions we have about russia activity, and i hope that the president uses that opportunity to make it clear to mr. Putin if in fact they meet that we need to have progress made on these fronts. Weve got to take a quick break, senator, but i have more questions for you. Lets resume this conversation right after this. If you have medicare
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republicans is putting a cap on contributions to 401 k s. Thats something that President Trump essentially shot down over twitter this morning. Trump tweeting, quote, there will be no change to your 401 k . This has always been a great and popular middle class tax break that works and it stays. So certainly there is a lot of urgency right now on crafting the policy, but certainly urgency coming from the white house on the politics of all of this. President trump heads up here to the hill tomorrow to meet with senate republicans. Expect a very similar message than the one he delivered over the weekend when he hopped on a Conference Call with house republicans, and thats weve got to get this tax bill past by the end of the year or else well face a bloodbath in the midterms, wolf . Whats the timeline for all of this . Reporter well, first and foremost, the house, theyve got to pass the senate budget. That has to happen potentially by thursday of this week is when theyll move to do that. Then theyve actually got to write the bill and produce the bill potentially as early as next week. The white house is being very
bullish on the timeline. President trump wants this passed by the end of this year, and he even said he wants a bill on his desk by thanksgiving. Now, that is very, very optimistic no matter how you slice it, but leaders up here are certainly raising some expectations to try to scheme that momentum going. Wolf. All right, sunlen, thank you. Sunlen serfaty up on capitol hill. Were back with democratic congressman ben cardin. Senator, lots of pressure on republicans to deliver and get this tax cut passed. What do you think their chances are . Well, i dont think its very good when you look at the blueprint first, it blows a hole in the deficit and i know a lot of us are very concerned about adding at least 1. 5 trillion to the deficit. We also are concerned that the overwhelming amount of tax relief goes to highincome families, as compared to middleincome families. They also raised the issue of cutting medicare and medicaid by 1. 5 trillion. These to me are issues that will
be very difficult for them to get the necessary votes to move a tax bill that is in that direction, and, quite frankly, theyre using a process that is doomed to i think fail if they do not really make a bipartisan effort to have a broader coalition so that a tax bill can enjoy broader support and is one even if it were to become law, would be able to remain a law more than just one term of congress. All right. Let me just point out that the president has told his budget director Mick Mulvaney exactly what hes told the american public, there will be absolutely no cuts to what are called entitlement programs, social security, medicare, and medicaid. Mulvaney is fighting him on that, but the president so far is holding firm. Why do you say the president will support cuts in medicare and medicaid . Well, if you look at the Budget Resolution that passed the United States senate, also the resolution that passed the house of representatives, it very much provides for cuts in medicare and medicaid. So the implementing legislation
that provides for the consideration of the tax bill envisions that there would be cuts in these programs. I hear what the president said, but i must tell you we find over and over again what he said in order to protect some of the critical programs such as medicare and medicaid, we then look at his actions. Look what he did on the Affordable Care act. He supported programs that cut medicaid dramatically, so the president s actions are inconsistent with his words. Your colleague, republican senator orrin hatch,