Drawing yet another stark contrast with President Trump with just 60 days until the election. By the way, some ballots getting mailed out today. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is at the white house for us. I also want to bring in Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post investigative report Carol Leonnig who is also an msnbc contributor. Carol, fantastic reporting. I want to read about the president s comments. A former Senior Administration official who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly confirmed to the Washington Post that the president frequently made disparaging comments about veterans and soldiers missing in action referring to them at times as losers. In one account the president told senior advisers that he didnt understand why the u. S. Government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion. What more, carol, can you tell us about what you and your colleagues at the post have learned about these comments . Well, unfortunately i have to say that, what weve learned is that the president s disparagement of veterans, both living and dead and those who enlisted and those who got brought into various wars was pretty consistent. He often told his generals and his senior aids that these people obviously werent very smart or talented if they couldnt get themselves out of a draft or get themselves out of service. They werent very successful in business if they chose a life of the military because it didnt really, quote, unquote, make any money, and that he often said to people that he didnt understand the rev vance for john mccain, why all this pomp and circumstance for a man who was basically captured behind enemy lines and why all this search for people who are missing in action, why reverence for that group of people, because they obviously hadnt done their job very well. The president has said this publicly, chris. Its not a shock. He literally have said i really prefer people that dont get caught or dont get captured. What he said about john mccain, and i want to make sure, even though you said it very clearly, this is not an instance where you spoke with just one person who told you about just one instance, perhaps something that could be misconstrued or misunderstood. This is multiple sources, multiple times the president with basically the same message, carol . Our reporting at the Washington Post is its multiple times, multiple instances and it is not to be dismissed as a oneoff or a misunderstanding. Zblt so kelly, i cant remember im sure its happened, i cant remember when the president and the white house responded to critical reporting so quickly, so forcefully, even former staffers getting involved in the pushback. Tell me about what youre hearing, whats going on at the white house . Whats the thought there . Chris, youre right. I think this event does stand alone, and by that i mean this is a white house that attacks any critical report, but this has really been a notable change in how theyve responded including, just a few minutes ago, where the president has again tweeted, first he attacks the atlantic magazine. Then he goes on to say the story has been refuted. This is what were up against, going back to the fake dossier, you fight and fight and people realize it was a total fraud. The president in this tweet casting himself as a victim of this. What really resonates about carols reporting and others is that public face private face of the president where in his public acts he awards many medals of honor, salutes the generals, talks about the members of the military. He does go to walter reid to visit with Service Members. He frequently talks publicly about rebuilding the military and raising salaries, and yet in some of his Public Comments and these things described in private, the president using this sort of language of not understanding the sense of sacrifice and service for the military. That can be very relevant in this campaign because the president wants to retain his historical advantage with members of the military and veterans Communities Just 60 days out from the election. People take this kind of information so personally because they may have a loved one who served or just as americans and their sense of patriotism. This was so important for the president to try to push back that after a long day, a rally where he spoke for a couple of hours, where he had taken questions. He got off the plane at joint base andrews last night and again spoke to the travel pool. It was a dark and rainy night, both literally and figuratively as the president tried to refute this story that originated from the atlantic and has been reported more broadly by carol and others. Here is how the president responded. To think that i would make statements negative to our military and our Fallen Heroes when nobody has done what ive done with the budgets, with the military budgets, with getting pay raises for our military, it is a disgraceful situation by a magazine thats a terrible magazine. I dont read it, but i just heard about it. They made it up. Probably its a couple of people that have been failures in the administration that i got rid of. Reporter so the president there defending his actions toward members of the military and the veterans community, denying these allegation, some both current and former senior staff who were part of the original trip, the trip to paris commemorating the anniversary related to warld war i have denied he said these things. What stands out is it fits a pattern the president has said publicly which makes these attributed comments comments attributed to him by these sources as ringing more true. So the president will be dogged by this because were in a campaign season, you already have democrats coming out calling on him to apologize, challenging his account and certainly the Biden Campaign will likely use this and democrats will more broadly as well. This is one of the controversies that isnt just noise for the president. It could be a much more potent political problem. Chris. Carol, as the president pushed back quickly on this reporting, democratic president ial nominee joe biden as i mentioned put out a statement. Among the things it said was, quote, if the revelations in todays atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and i disagree about the role of the president of the United States. And if i have the honor of serving as the next commanderinchief, i will ensure our american heroes know i will have their back and honor their sacrifice always. I think its worth noting that there have been people that have come out and been more pointed in their criticism. Its clear what joe biden is saying here. I guess my question as a longtime observer of all that is political in washington, how much does this issue for voters, carol, illustrate the stark differences in these two campaigns and these two candidates . You know, chris, its a great question. I feel like this particular moment is very important. If this story had come out, say, a year ago, im not sure the president and the white house would be pushing back in the same way. It comes during the home stretch. The president is trying to win every possible wiggle voter he can. He knows that biden has the advantage at the moment, and what is the crux, what is the Central Group of people who are potentially movable, the suburban voters and also the military. I want to sort of emphasize a really smart point kelly just made which is about how it doesnt really ring so false, these claims that people have made to us because its part of a pattern. Remember mary trump in her book and also in audio tapes she took of family members has Donald Trumps brother describing to her that donald trump and his wife wife ivanka are about to disown donald trump jr. If he enlists in the army as hes planning to. What a fascinating picture. The president threatening the inheritance of his son if he agrees to join the military and serve as a public servant. What in the world is that about . To kellys point what in the world . Many previous comments by the president basically saying that john mccain is a loser. So i dont think it really makes sense to hear him deny it now. Carol leonnig, carol odonnell, two of the great deeply sourced reporters in washington, d. C. , its terrific to have you on on this critical day. This is an important conversation. Let me also bring in rick tyler, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. Good to see you. We remember when in 2015 donald trump is attacked senator john mccain who was wounded in vietnam, held as a p. O. W. I want to play that moment, a reminder of what carol was just pointing out. I supported him. He lost. He let us down. He lost. I never liked him as much after that, because i dont like losers. Let me get to it. Hes a war hero. Hes not a war hero. Hes a war hero because he was captured. I like people that werent captured, i hate to tell you. He even made a point to retweet a story about the comments he made about senator mccain. Then in the summer of 2016 we saw him lash out at gold star parents, kaiser kahn and his wife, their son was killed serving in iraq in 2004. Both instances as you well know, rick, a lot of people thought he couldnt survive those attacks but he won. Let me ask you to take a look at the republicans who still support him, maybe some people in the middle who support him. Will this time be any different . Chris, i think it will be different in the sense that the followers of donald trump, ive been arguing with them on twitter this morning, shown them videos, done the quote, shown the audios, on and on and on and they still denied it happened. Those people will never move away from donald trump. Rank and file military normally support republican candidates for president very strongly are really going to have to reconcile what trump has said here. The sad fact is, for debating whether this is all believable, Jeffrey Goldberg would not have gotten as far as he has gotten in the journalistic world if he made things up. I also know him personally. I dont believe he made it up. Second, i comports with who donald trump is and everything hes actually said out loud, arguing with gold star families, saying in front of general kelly, his chief of staff, whose son was killed in iraq, in front of his grave saying i dont know whats in it for them. He doesnt understand the idea of honor. So i think when you start to look at the military and start to look at donald trump and how he feels about them, and the fact he would want to engage the military against its own civilians, his own citizens in the United States in these protests which he classifies as riots, the military is going to have a second look. Weve already been through an administration with joe biden, and i can say that theres a lot more support on that side than there ever will be with dronald trump. Rick tyler, thank you for that. I also want to point out the group vote vets very quickly came out with a new ad from gold star parents responding to the president s alleged comments calling dead Service Members losers and suckers. My son matthew is not a loser. My stepson was not a sucker. Lance Corporal Alexander scott arradondo died in iraq in 2004. My son Sergeant James anthony gave his life in kandahar, afghanistan in 2010. Honorably serving his country. Thats something donald trump will never know. Wow. I want to turn now to retired u. S. Army colonel jack jacobs, hes a war hero, receiving a medal of honor during the vietnam war. Also an msnbc military analyst. Always good to see you, jack. Good morning. For people that dont know your story, you were awarded the medal of honor for saving 14 lives on the battlefield in vietnam. I was honored to travel back with you in vietnam. You were typically modest about what you did that day. You said, when you think of vietnam, you think of your friends that didnt come home and those who were wounded. In that context, jack, how do the president s alleged remarks strike you personally . Well, it cuts deeply. Let me just say at the outset that the president has said so many things that are fallacious, outrageous, hyperbolic, that they now fail to shock anymore. Maybe rick tyler is correct and this will resonate and maybe it will resonate not just with military people but with the large majority of americans who support the military, who understand what the military does and what the military has been doing since the inception of the country for our freedom. But the president has said so many things that are outrageous that now it almost fails to shock, and it would be interesting to see what is the fallout, if any, from this. Ive spoken to a lot of people who work directly from the president who reiterate exactly what Jeffrey Goldberg said in that article who said the president has no respect for people in uniform, no respect for people who have served. And most significantly, does not understand the notion of being part of something thats larger than yourself. This all may have a deleterious impact on his campaign, but at the end of the day, its important to recognize the place of people who do something for others. Youve met some of the other medal of honor recipients. And one of them in particular once said when asked, why did you do what you did on the battlefield . He said because they would do it for me. Individuals can make big fortunes. I dont even believe that. I think you need a lot of help, a lot of other people to work with you to make a big fortune. Lets say individuals can make a big fortune, but it takes a community to make a nation state, to make a country, and it takes a community, especially those people in uniform to achieve and to preserve freedom, chris. I know you dont like it when i talk about you. How many surgeries have you had as a result of the injuries you sustained saving 14 lives that day . Dozens . 20, 20ish perhaps. 20. Still suffering the effects. Ten fingers and toes, so 20. Youre in Constant Contact with members of the military, including some from youre rah, the vietnam era. Polls show, jack, the president s favorability rates has been trending down among active duty members during his time in office. 41 in the recent poll say they would vote for biden, 37 for President Trump. This flies in the face of a long history of the military supporting republican candidates. This is important for many reasons, but also because in the 2016 exit polls, veterans voted at a 21 ratio for president over hillary clinton. I wonder if these new numbers surprise you at all, what kinds of conversations youve had with your friends who are military and former military. No, it doesnt surprise me at all. Im no pollster, but my guess is that the gap is even wider than that. It depends on who you talk to and where you are. Theres a very big difference between the legislative impact of increasing having a cost of living allowance in your pay on one hand and a perception of genuine support for the value of people in uniform who are doing something for the other 325 million of us. I was talking to somebody not that long ago who worked in the white house who said that he thought that the president seemed like somebody who was dropped here from an alien planet. He did not understand the notion of doing something for somebody other than yourself, that his entire focus is on self aggrandizement. We all need to be selfaggrandizing a little bit otherwise we wouldnt surprise. But the notion of doing something for somebody other than yourself, completely alien to him. When this person tried to explain it to him, he waved him off and told him to shut up. I want to say one thing before we conclude. Everybody who is of my generation, indeed the succeeding generations of the kids fighting, serving today all feel most of them feel the same way. A lot of people didnt like to get draw gooned into the army and nobody likes to get shot at. When you get older and more mature, you look back and say i did the right thing. Those people didnt serve regret having not served and not being part of something larger than themselves. One other thing, i want to talk just for a second about an english philosopher whose opinions donald trump would probably agree with most of his economic opinions, jon stewart mill. As a matter of fact, hed probably agree with almost everything except this, and ill add dunn braet it. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. A man for whom nothing is more important than his own safety, than himself is a miserable creature who is made free and kept free by better men than he. Chris. Its an honor to know you colonel jack jacobs. Thank you. Have a Great Holiday weekend to you and sue and your whole family. Were calling it the kamala effect. Joe bidens veep announcement puts dnc donors into overdrive. Is it enough to get more millennials on board with the biden harris ticket. Well talk about that and coronavirus on campus. Ahead of what is expected to be a very atypical labor day weekend, students nationwide will be ditching the tail gates this year. Will they . For total isolation . Well talk about that, too. Because the decisions you make have far reaching implications. And a relationship with a Corporate Bank like pnc can provide just what you need. As one of the nations largest banks, pnc brings customized insights and a local approach. To make informed choices now and in the future. 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