Matthews in washington. This afternoon in the white house pressroom general john kelly spoke to the country about how this country shows its respect for those who give their life for this country. Kelly told the steps the military take to preserve the body of those fallen, how it honors and respects the beloved ones who feel the loss most greatly. Most americans dont know wh what happens when we learn our soldiers, sailors, marines and cost guardsmen in combat. Let me tell you what happens. Their buddies wraps them up in whatever passes a shroud, puts them on a helicopter as routine and sends them home. Their first stop along the way is when theyre packed in ice, typically at the air head and then theyre flown to usually europe. General kelly spoke in some detail, including the account of the words his fellow officers spoke in consoling him, john kelly, on the loss of his son in combat. And those he said today were the words he advised trump to use in consoling the loved ones of the four soldiers who were loss in niger. The president s chief of staff took this duty upon himself to take personal responsibility for the president s words to the widow of David Johnson and the politics it exposed. The general said nothing today is sacred, not even the private words of consolation by the president to a gold star spouse. Lets listen. Let me tell you what i tell them. Let me tell you what my best friend, joe dunford told me, he was my casualty officer. He said, kel, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that 1 . He knew what the possibilities were because were at war. Thats what the president tried to say to four families the other day. I was stunned when i came to work yesterday morning, and broken hearted, at what i saw a member of congress doing. It stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. Well the congresswoman he mentioned, free rica wilson said she listened in to that phone call between the president and the families of the fallen soldier and described what she heard. It was backed up by the relatives of the soldier. Lets watch the congresswoman. He was almost like joking. He said, well, i guess you knew something to the fact that he knew what he was getting into when he signed up. But i guess it hurts anyway. You know, just matter of factually that this is what happens. She was in tears. She was in tears. Well im joined right now by susan page, Jason Johnson, politics editor at the root and glen thrush, White House Correspondent for the new york times. Susan, youre first. And to me i was overwhelmed by the general today. I think he looked like a president , talked like a president. Talked like a guy who had lost a son in combat and knew what that meant and tried to best way he could do as chief of staff to this president who is unfamiliar with this whole world of combat and loss and maybe human existence sometimes, i wonder about trump. But he did his best on what words to use. He used those words and he was crushed politically for doing so. Your thoughts ma. No one has defended him more effectively than general kelly has today. He was the personal standing by virtue of his service and service of my family and also his manner. His manner was matter of fact and compelling. Authentic. He did a lot for President Trump today in trying to explain what happened. Jason, i like the mans style because i was never in the military but i will say this. He doesnt flap his arms about. He doesnt use the jest tiguess vegass like trump does. Hes very calm. And i thought what he said was authentic. He said these are the words i recommended the president use. He used them. Now when he goes on to characterize the behavior of the congresswoman, thats politics. I accept that. But up until that point i said, god, he was true to form. Hes a good soldier. Its his boss to protect his boss like a good soldier does. The problem is he should have stopped there. I do think its a problem that he attacked a member of congress. He knew david. She mentored this guy since he was a kid. She had a right to be there. That weakened his statement. Lets get to the news aspect of this. The fact that it took us until this afternoon, a story that i think the press was running pretty far ahead. Around here i think we were restrained but people were raising pretty far ahead, one of the papers was jumps ons this as if one side is right the other is wrong and this is a murky case of tremendous emotions. The loss of a husband in this case. The loss of a son, is so horrible, especially in murky circumstances in a war we didnt know we were in. What are we doing in niger. Who was looking out for him . Lots of reasons for anger, not just grief. And then the president walked into it, of course he had to. This is an area thats so fraught with trouble, especially in an environment were in right now where everybody is on one side of the other. Four against this president. Theres so much to unpack in this. First off, lets get it out there. The main function of him coming out there was to say that the president essentially misspoke or articulated himself in a way that could be misunderstood. He gave the predicate by talking about dunford in that incredibly moving passage of what the president intended to say. How did the president misstate what he was advised to say by the general . First of all, we have to say, kelly completely contradicted what sara sanders said the day before and what trump had said, there was nothing to what had been said. Kelly gave you the pretranslated version of what trump had been expected to say. What was the differential . You got to help me here. What does trump change from what he was advised to say by the general. We dont know. But what kelly said talking to trump, putting dunfords words into his own mouth, essentially what hes saying is you signed up to do this at a time when many in the country arent, this is your job, youre surrounded by the greatest people on earth and this is the potential price when you put yourself in that position. Trump, it appears, if were going by what the family said and what the congresswoman said, did a shorthand version of that that fell flat. That is not that is not, by the way, an outlie. Weve seen that a ton of times before. How about giving the edge to the president. How about it fell on ears that werent receptive to the mouth of trump. I think theres been a tremendous rush to judgment on this. Thank. Trump didnt help himself saying he had proof in terms of the tape of the call. You know, i think i remember i immediately thought when i heard this im church hill buff. When church hill talked to harry hopkinss, he had lost a son in combat so church hill quoted shakes peer about your son has paid a soldiers debt. Sounds rough but it is what it is. The young man or woman walks into harms way knowing that could happen. And for whatever good great reason they had to go there, they did. It isnt like they stumbled into something. It is rough. The whole situation is rough and i dont know if theres a nice way to say it, especially to your political enemy. The congresswoman accused him of being mentally unstable. Said he should be impeached. Hes clearly at the other end of the spectrum. That wasnt going to be a great conversation. I thought this myself. If you separate the actual words from the president , if george bush or barack obama had said this, we wouldnt think it was strange. But remember this is a president known for his tone, known for occasionally shooting off the hip. So its highly possible that he came off with a lack of empathy on a regular basis. Its perfectly reasonable for people to see it that way. This is the political part. Were going to say that. Would listen to the president s conversation with a grieving military family, saying it with us sacred. But she was in the car. Lets watch. And i thought at least that was sacred. You know, when i was a kid growing up, a lot of things were sacred in our country. Women were sacred. Looked upon with great honor. Thats obviously not the case anymore as we see from recent cases. Life was sacred. Thats gone. Religion, that seems to be gone as well. Gold star families, i think that left in the convention over the summer. But i just thought the selfless devotion that brings a man or woman to die on the battlefield, i just thought that might be sacred. Critics say it was the president , President Trump who first politicized the issue of Fallen Soldiers by invoking president obama. Lets watch what the president said just last week. 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. As far as other representatives, i dont know. I mean you could ask general kelly, did he get a call from obama. You could ask other people. I dont know what obamas policy was. Look, guys, i thought the general, when he stayed in his position, in his lane he was fantastic, talking about what its like to lose a son, the protocol, went through the icing of the bodies. How can you beat that. But this thing of the sacredness of women, i think of trump and har vie weinstein. I thought that was a culture war shot that he didnt have to take. The sacredness of a woman sounds like fragile little deers, the better half and all of that old nonsense. Its harmless unless youre fighting for equality and also about choice and life. The old shot in there. I thought it was a general cultural attack line against all of the enemies of trump. Im not sure women were treated so fantastically well in some previous golden era. Well leave that. Heres what we can probably agree on. Dont put me in this box. This fragile deer thing isnt what people want to hear today. Thats exactly right. Maybe we can agree that the issue of gold star families, cant we get it out of a political debate . We have a partisan debate about every single thing in this world and maybe this is an area where both sides, the congresswoman and the president could take a step back. Pull back. Thank you. Well said. Im glad you said that. You always say the right thing. Or almost always. Thank you susan page, Jason Johnson and glen thrush. Coming up, the real fake news. Senior members of the trump team, donald trump jr. Trafficked russian propaganda during last years election by tweeting messages that came from russia, a troll farm. Yes, they were, i think colluding. What were the four green berets doing in niger. What was the mission. Lawmaker want answers. Have they ever put any limits on where a president can send our troops . I never hear of them drawing the lin lines. Obama is back. He hit the campaign trail early in new jersey and set is stump for the governor in virginia. Hes back. Our boyfriend is back. Does obama still have the political weight to tilt it his way. The director of the new movie lbj, woody marldson and rob reiner here tonight. This is hardball where the action is. Now that we have your attention. Capri sun has four updated drinks. Now with only the good stuff. Do you know how to use those . Nope. Get those kids some new capri sun former president george w. Bush seemed to take a shot at President Trump earlier today speaking at a forum in no, sir, condemning the current state of politics in this country and warned about the threats to our democracy. Lets listen. In recent decades Public Confidence in our institutions has declined. Our governing class has often been paralyzed. Politics seem for vulnerable to conspiracy theories and outright fabrication. Weve seen our discourse degraded by casual cruelty. At times it can seem that the forces pulling us apart are stronger than the forces binding us together. Argument turns too easily into animosity. Disagreement escalates into dehumanization. Weve seen nationalism distorted. Weve forgotten the die nammism that immigration brought to america. You took us to war that had something to do with this countrys division. A spokesman said the president is not criticizing trump. These are the same things the president has spoken on for the past two decades. Well be right back. On every purchase i make. Everything. Whats in your wallet . I enjoy the fresher things in life. O. Fresh towels. Fresh soaps. And of course, tripadvisors freshest, lowest. Prices. So if youre anything like me. Youll want to check tripadvisor. We now instantly compare prices. From over 200 booking sites. To find you the lowest price. On the hotel you want. Go on, try something fresh. Tripadvisor. The latest reviews. The lowest prices. Welcome back to hardball. Heres a truly disturbing statistic. Nearly half of all americans, 46 believe news organizations like this fabricate stories about donald trump and his administration. Thats according to a new Politico Morning Consult poll this week. The number is higher among republicans. Threequarter, 76 of republicans believe that whats said about trump isnt true. Real fake news is pervasive now and has real consequences real fake news. Today the daily beast reports that some of President Trumps family and closest aides promoted tweets from professional trolls paid by the russian government. A twitter account using the handle at 10 gop called itself the unofficial twitter account of tennessee republicans but was actually operated by the kremlin troll form. Kellyanne conway, Michael Flynn and roger stone all promoted the tweets. The Washington Post reported the same theng and yesterday the attorney general was asked about Russian Election interference. Here he is. Do you think were doing enough to prepare for future interference by russia and other foreign adversaries in the Information Space . Probably not. Were not. And the matter is so complex that for most of us, were not able to fully grasp the technical dangers that are out there. Well today President Trump refused to acknowledge russias influence in our election. Heres what he said instead. Uranium is a big subject. If the Mainstream Media would cover the uranium scandal and that russia has 20 of our uranium for whatever reason and a lot of people understand what those reasons may be, i think thats your russia story. Thats your real russia story, not a story where they talk about collusion and there was none. It was a hoax. He doesnt put them into action but he begrudgingly signed in august but wont do anything with it. Senators john mccain introduced a bipartisan bill today. For more im joined by Betsy Woodruff who wrote the piece. Give me the reality here. How did this stuff get from moscow through this Tennessee Group thing online into the words and messages put out by the trump people . Essentially kremlin operatives massacre raqueraded group. They were pretending to be grass roots conservative activists. And in some ways this sounded like Typical Tea Party talking points. There were a lot of signs that it was fishy. In one piece of this thats important to understand is that 10 gop was operating long after election day and that points to something quite sobering about russian influence operations, which is its not just about elections. 10 gop tweeted that they thought Michael Flynn should have been reinstated as National Security adviser after he was fired, which is exactly the kind of thing you expect to hear from the kremlin, not necessarily from tennessee republican. Rt was using some of this stuff. They frequently cited 10 gop. Its here. We have it. Somebody is the puppet master that says put this out online on this phony group, this russian operation online. They pick it up on rt, give it a reverberation and something with puppet strings is saying lets get this out into the Mainstream Media. Right. I cant point to the specific individuals in russia who are the puppet masters. But many high level folks in the Trump Campaign amplified the message at 10 gop. Weve seen evidence that those Trump Campaign people knew that 10 gop was affiliated with the kremlin but they helped it push its message. What led them to it . Why would they just happen to pick up the crap . Its a good question. Its just asht language and interpretation. How good is their english that theyre able to fake us with what sounds like american english . Some of the english is not great. If you look at the russia propaganda efforts why wouldnt they say this is bogus. One Republican Data and cyst said he followed 10 gop for a long time and noticed it didnt seem quite right, it seemed fishy. And an important thing about this account that people have to understand is one of the tweets that it tweeted that donald trump jr. Retweeted accused broward county, florida of voter fraud. Im sorry. If you want to call it collusion, fine. But looks to me like hand in glove. The trump people knew where to go, they got it, it suited their purposes, the russia purposes. Thaf were on the same team. Thank you. Up next, President Trump is facing criticism over the deaths of four u. S. Soldiers. What do we know about that ambush over there and what about those operations and who put it over there . Under what authority did President Trump or president obama before him send our soldiers in harms way in aft africa. What war are we fighting . This is hardball where the action is. Trulicity is not insulin. It comes in a onceweekly, truly easytouse pen. It works 24 7, and you dont have to see or handle a needle. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, if you have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if youre allergic to trulicity. 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