Nbc nationalist Correspondent Peter joining me now where were expecting the greek Prime Minister to pull up, so well watch that. First of all, all the confusion. We see the president there in the doorway of the portico to the west wing entrance as the car pulls up, and were going to see the greek Prime Minister. Greece, of course, has been in financial turmoil. It has been part of the European Union crisis financially and economically and is also right in the region where migration has been a crisis, peter. So as we see him arriving, there will be an oval office meeting, a quick Photo Opportunity, later another Photo Opportunity in the cabinet room as they have an expanded lunch. Then theres going to be a News Conference. But lets go to the News Conference that you were a big part of yesterday, because this was the president trying to pretend there was no problem with mitch mcconnell, but importantly, youve got new reporting on the whole issue of
gold star families and the president and the way he criticized his predecessors. Reporter this is not an issue that i think any of us thought we would be talking about on this day. The president was pressed yesterday on why he hadnt commented yet on the deaths of four soldiers, army green berets, who died in niger earlier this month. He spoke of how hard those calls are, said he had written letters still to be sent, said he would be making calls. He also spoke about past president s, suggesting that President Obama and other president s often Didnt Make Calls, that they Didnt Make Calls at all, he said, before i pressed him on that and said, where do you come up with that claim, where does that come from, and he says, thats what he had been told. In terms of the new information on this today, a white house official following up with the president s own comments sort of revisiting this topic, a white house official tells me that general john kelly, the president s chief of staff, never received a phone call from President Obama after his own son died in afghanistan in 2010. Ive reached out to the white house to find out if there was any other contact made by President Obama to general kelly or to his family, and im told by a source familiar with a breakfast that took place in the spring of 2011 for gold star families hosted by President Obama that general john kelly and his wife, at least according to public records, did attend that breakfast, that as im told by someone who was in attendance that day, that they were seated at the table with the first Lady Michelle obama. So even if there wasnt a call made, it appears there was contact between President Obamat least the first lady expressing her condolences to general john kellys family at that time. The bottom line is this has reignited a very ugly dispute over what is the gravest of obligations, andrea, for president s, the calls to families of fallen service
members. The white house is fiercely pushing back saying this is all fake news, that this is being made up. The president never made this suggestion. Ill encourage people to see the president s remarks for themselves here. But the bottom line is it is President Trump who brought up President Obama and other past president s suggesting they Didnt Make Calls like this. Andrea . In fact, there is a lot of pushback, as well hear, from people who worked with President Obama. Heres more of what President Trump said about calling gold star families. The toughest calls i have to make are the calls where this happens, soldiers are killed. Its a very difficult thing. It gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them in one day. Its a very, very tough day. For me thats by far the toughest. The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other president s, most of them Didnt Make Calls, a lot of them Didnt Make Calls. I like to call when its appropriate, when i think im
able to do it. Leon panetta served as cia director and Secretary Of Defense under President Obama and joins me now. Mr. Secretary, i dont think we ever thought we would be having this conversation, but what is your reaction to the things the president said yesterday . Well, you know, its regrettable that when it comes to the lives of those who are brave and courageous and put their lives on the line and oftentimes lose their lives on behalf of this country, they ought to be our focus. And it ought not to be the president s comments about trying to scapegoat other president s or problems within his own administration to address those condolences to the families. So i think the important thing to remember here is that president s do care about those that give their lives for this
country, and every president , including President Obama, responded to that through letters, through calls, through attending ceremonies. He came with me to Dover Air Force base when a number of s. E. A. L. S who had been killed in a helicopter crash, their bodies were returned to our country. He has expressed his condolences to the family. So rather than spending time trying to somehow criticize others, i think this president , after 10 months in office, has a responsibility now to deal with his administration and what he does and to be responsible for what he does, whether he does it right or whether he does it wrong. Secretary panetta, one of the things that was so striking is that he was talking about how painful it is for him to make these calls. And it had been 12 days or so, he had not spoken about what happened in niger when we lost
attention on the behavior of past president s, the most important thing he could do is acknowledge the sacrifice that those brave soldiers made and that this nation owes them a debt of gratitude. Thats what we have to focus on. Not play these games with what past president s did or did not do. John mccain criticized very strongly the president s foreign policy. The president was on the radio today, wral, in washington, and this was his reaction to john mccains criticism. You heard yesterday Senator Mccain. People have to be careful because at some point i fight back. Im being very nice, being very nice. But at some point ill fight back. What he was saying was at some point i fight back, and it will not be very pretty, that
people have to be careful. A warning to john mccain about his strong criticism of the foreign policy, the american first foreign policy. Clearly hes talking about bannon and corker and others, but that was the white house philosop philosophy. Look, john mccain made a legitimate criticism about the administration with regards to their foreign policy. This country, going back to world war ii, has been a world leader. We have worked with our allies. We have always kept our word in dealing with our allies in facing Danger Points throughout the world. We represent the most important values in the world, the values of freedom and liberty, Human Dignity and the ability of people to selfgovern themselves in the world. Those are our values. The problem weve seen is this process of withdrawing from our
responsibilities in the world. Weve withdrawn from the paris climate agreement, weve withdrawn from treaties that were obligations to countries. This president has criticized our nato alliance. He now has moved away from the Nuclear Agreement where we gave our word that we would abide by that agreement. So on a number of fronts, there is real concern that we are pulling back from our responsibilities in the world to an America First kind of position which, very frankly, isolates this country in terms of our leadership and in terms of these Danger Points in the world. I think this is an issue, frankly, that ought to be fully debated in this country. Whether the United States should be a world leader and accept the responsibilities of a world lead leader, or whether were going
to become isolationists and start to pull away from those responsibilities. That is a major issue that needs to be debated in this country. From your knowledge, i also want to button down what people say, that there wasnt a call from President Obama to john kellys family. Do you know if that is true and if theres hard feelings there . I dont know if thats true, because frankly that occurred before i became Secretary Of Defense. President s do make calls. They certainly do write to those families. I think its fair to say that because of obligations, theyre not going to make calls to anyone. Thats just the nature of the
possibilities of the presidency. But john kellys son was a patriot and gay hve his life fo this country, and i think its beneath the dignity of the white house to start dragging those issues out when we have to express our deepest thanks to all of those that were willing to put their lives on the line for this country. That ought to be it, period, and stop this kind of game of trying to pick scapegoats. That just doesnt serve, i think, the dignity of the office of the presidency. And finally, youve been in a lot of cabinets. Youve seen from the insideout how diplomacy works. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson said on sunday that he will continue the oath until the first bomb drops. A lot of people have problems of
the Secretary Of State talking about when the first bomb drops. Secretary tillerson, who i think has expressed at least the right motivations here, that we ought to continue to do everything we can diplomatically to resolve this situation in north korea. Waiting for a bomb to drop or waiting for Military Action means that this administration will have failed in its responsibility to try to negotiate some kind of solution there. This is a tough issue. We all understand that. But i think, frankly, it would probably be good for the administration to kind of take a deep breath, move away from some of this rhetoric of fire and fury and dropping bombs and just roll up their sleeves and do the work that theyre supposed to do, which is try to find any possible path toward trying to resolve this issue, and at the same time build up our forces
and our strength in that part of the world should we have to engage in some kind of military conflict. Thats what this administration ought to be focused on, is every possible effort to try to determine whether or not we can try to find a way to resolve this dispute. Secretary panetta, thank you for being with us today. Thank you. Coming up, more on the opioid fight. The fallout. Thank you for joining us on msnbc. So you can get more out of life and Medicare Part d. Just walk right in for savings that will be the highlight of your day. Walgreens has 0 Copays On Select Plans and 100 points on prescriptions. So, swing by and save today. Walgreens, at the corner of happy healthy. Did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back . Say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. Comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet thats up to 16 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. Say hello to faster downloads with internet speeds up to 250 megabits per second. Get Fast Internet and add phone and tv now for only 34. 90 more per month. Call today. Comcast business. Built for business. This morning the Dow Industrial Average crossed another milestone, hitting the 23,000 mark for the first time. Right now it is hovering just below that record. Well continue to monitor the latest, however. Stay with us until 4 00. The president has been in the oval office with the greek Prime Minister. Well hear what he had to say. Lets watch. Good morning, everybody. Its an honor to have the Prime Minister of greece with us. As you know, greece has gone through a lot over the last number of years, but theyre doing a terrific job of coming back, and they will be back. Were working with them on many different things. Theyre upgrading their fleets of airplanes, the f16 plane, which is a terrific plane. Theyre doing big upgrades and
were doing trade with greece, and were going to have some meetings right after this, were having meetings with the staff, were having a luncheon with the staff also, and well be talking about additional ways where greece will help us and we will help greece. But weve had a longtime relationship with greece. Theyve been great friends and loyal friends and allies, and we look forward to our discussion today. Thank you, mr. Prime minister. Thank you, mr. President. Thank you for the invitation and the hospitality. I am sure that well have a very fruitful discussion today. I think this is a very important moment for our corporation, and im sure well do whatever it takes to enhance this corporation. Greece is a willing partner in every sense of the word and also a reliable partner for the United States. Thats true. Dont forget that when greece was born, the values of freedom and democracy we share all together. Im very happy to be here. Its an honor for me. Its my honor. Thank you very much. Thank you. Obamacare is dead. Arent you trying to keep it alive in some ways . Obamacare is virtually dead. At best you could say in its final legs, the premiums are going through the roof. The deductibles are so high that people dont get to use it. Obamacare is a disgrace to our nation and we are solving the problem of obamacare, okay . Thank you all very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. President trump speaking out today about his former nominee for drug czar republican congressman tom marino who abruptly pulled his name from consideration after a bombshell name from the Washington Poston 60 minutes on sunday that marino championed a bill that allowed them to crack dis dodowe Opioid Crisis that has killed many people in america. He told me, look, if theres even a perception that he has a Conflict Of Interest with Insurance Companies essentially, but if theres even a perception that he has a Conflict Of Interest, he doesnt want anything to do to do with it. There were a couple articles having to do with him and drug companies, and i will tell you, he felt compelled he feels very strong about the Opioid Problem and the drug problem which is a worldwide problem which is a problem that we have. Joining me now is democratic senator from West Virginia, joe mansion. Senator, you had called for him to step down. Youve been fierce on this subject for the last 24 to 48 hours. Your reaction to the fact that tom marino, the congressman, has pulled himself out of the drug czar nomination post. First of all, i think congressman marino did an honorable thing. I thank the president for taking this so seriously and im willing to work with the president to find a person thats passionate, thats knowledgeable, and people will believe theyre fighting for them and their family and all of those around. The president understands the problems, and we need a good person who understands and is willing to fight the fight. Theres really bad Opioid Crisis in West Virginia. One midsized distributor had shipped more than 28 million pills to pharmacies in West Virginia over five years. You know what this is all about. First of all, mingo county is a beautiful county with a number of hardworking people. It provided the energy that made the country for what we are. For them to be preyed upon by the pharmaceutical industry, less than 400 people in this beautiful little town. 9 million pills, youre telling me that wasnt a Business Model to make profit off misery of lives and ruining a whole community and area . Not just for West Virginia, this entire country is in the depths of an epidemic. When you have an epidemic, you have to step guaforward and do something. We dont need these products, these maps of products, in the marketplace. The dea has to step forward, the fda has to step forward. Doctors have to be held accountable and responsible for the prescribing theyre doing. Then we need Treatment Centers to cure the people who have become ill with addiction. Its all on the front here. Its an all hands on deck problem. I have to ask you about the process with which this takes
place. If we hadnt had a Whistle Blower from the dea, we wouldnt all be talking about it. The fact that this was approved in a hurry, unanimous consent, both houses, everybody voted for it with a voice vote. No one is on the record, of course or everyone is on the record, actually. President obama signed it. How does Something Like this happen without the implications being bette