The man steve bannon is trying to run out of office. And perhaps most troubling, trump falsely asserts that he does what other president s failed to do when it comes to americas goldstar families. All of it and more on a monday night as the 11th hour gets under way. Talking about health care, tax reform, cuba, the National Football league, and more. A reporter asked the president why he hasnt spoken publicly yet about the death of four u. S. Green berets who were killed 12 days ago during an ambush in niger in africa. In his answer, he talked about how difficult it is for him when u. S. Service members are killed in action and he has to call their families, also noting incorrectly its something his predecessors didnt do. Is ive written them personal letters. Theyve been sent or theyre going out tonight, but they were during the weekend. I will at some point during the period of time call the parents and the families because i have done that traditionally. I felt very, very badly about that. I always feel badly. Its the toughest toughest calls i have to make are the calls where this happens. Soldiers are killed. Its a very difficult thing. Now, it gets to a point where, you know, you make four or five of them, and one day is a very, very tough day. For me, thats by far the toughest. So 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. They have made the ultimate sacrifice. So generally i would say that i like to call. Im going to be calling them. I want a little time to pass. Im going to be calling them. Earlier you said president obama never called the families of fallen soldiers. How can you make i dont know if he did. No, no i was told he didnt very often. A lot of president s dont. They write letters. Excuse me, peter, i do a combination of both. Sometimes its a very difficult thing to do. I do a combination of both. President obama, i think, probably did sometimes and maybe sometimes he didnt. I dont know. Thats what i was told. All i can do, all i can do is ask my generals. Other president s did not call. Theyd write letters. And some president s didnt do anything. But i like i like the combination of i like, when i can, the combination of a call and also a letter. Trump also talked about puerto rico and what he described as its peoples inability to distribute the food and water the government is providing. In what we should quickly note is a country where 100 bridges and many more roads are gone. Puerto rico is very tough because of the fact its an island but its also tough because as you know, it was in very poor shape before the hurricanes ever hit. We have done i will say this, we have done people dont have drinking water. Well, weve delivered tremendous amounts of water, the what you have to do, you have to have distribution of the water by people on the island. We have massive amounts of water. We have massive amounts of food. But they have to distribute the food and have to do this, they have to distribute the food to the people of the island. So what weve done is we now actually have military distributing food. Something that really they shouldnt have to be doing. For the record, u. S. Military distributes food after any number of natural disasters. After that, the president took a shot at a familiar target, a reporter asked him about Hillary Clintons response to nfl players decision to take a knee during the National Anthem to protest police violence. And he interrupted to say this. Why oh, i hope hillary runs. Is she going to run . I hope. Hillary, please run again. Go ahead. On that, lets start off our lead panel on a monday night. Matthew nusbom, White House Reporter for politico. Tamara keith, White House Correspondent for npr. Jonathan lemere, White House Reporter for the ap and msnbc political analyst. We welcome you all back to the broadcast. All right, matthew, you get to start because you were in the rose garden, in effect, in the room where it happened today. What prompted this and did anything about the president s motive in wanting to do this have an appearance, take really unlimited questions, did that come through in his words as to what his motive was . Well, like you said, this was a very impromptu press conference. I think it came about because during his cabinet meeting, he said that he would be taking some questions on the steps. And we were all kind of left wondering, what is he talking about . And then very soon after that, we found out that the briefing was going to be canceled. The scheduled briefing with press secretary Sarah Sanders. We were ushered out for this sort of surreal rose garden press conference. There werent any chairs set up. This was all very spur of the moment so we gathered around a rope and shouted questions to a president who loves being out there going this back and forth with reporters and his goal, i think, was to show, hey, look, Mitch Mcconnell and i are friends, the things you read about, the feud between us, arent accurate. Whether or not he got that across i think remains to be seen but they certainly tried. Tamara, why hasnt the president talked about the loss of four u. S. Special operators in niger in africa . The secretary of defense has. Its not operational security. The pentagon has already talked about the incident and their deaths. Is there any reason why the president has not spoken about them heretofore . Its really not clear, this incident happened, at least we were notified of it, on the day President Trump was traveling to las vegas to meet with the families and people affected by that mass shooting there. As the air force one was coming in to Andrews Air Force base, Sarah Sanders came back on air force one and talked to those of us reporters who were on that flight, told the pool that the president had been briefed on the incident that had happened there. Sarah sanders came back on air force one and talked to those of us reporters who were on that flight, told the pool that the president had been briefed on the incident that had happened there. And that was really the last that we heard of it from the white house. Jonathan lemere, we heard from general kelly, the chief of staff, last week saying really theres nothing to see here, especially about his relationship with the president. No panic behind the scenes, no chaos. Then this mornings washington post. Under the headline, inside the Adult Daycare Center how aides try to control and coerce trump. Some trump aides spend a significant amount of their time devising ways to rein and control the imptuous president angling to control outbursts that might work against him. According to interviews with 18 aides, confidants and outside advisers most of whom insisted on anonymity to spoke candidly. I will note general kelly told the press you need to get better sources. Were all working on it. Yes, certainly some of the chaos has been reined in behind closed doors. This is not theres more organization now than there was when Reince Priebus was chief of staff. It theres better control of information going into the oval office. There are more dedicated organized attempts at the policy procedure, there have been small steps taken. At the end of the day, the president does what the president wants to do. We know that he was he always fancies himself his best spokesman. He believes he is the best person to communicate his message. He did want to display an improved relationship with the Senate Majority leader but also just wanted to, according to those close to him that we talked to, have a better sense of controlling the narrative out there. Trying to push back on a few issues. Trying to hit some of his favorites like the nfl, which, of course, he brought up again today. But also to defend himself. Puerto rico is the biggest one here where he has been really frustrated with what he has seen as he believes unfair negative Media Coverage of the response to that hurricane and he wanted to try to get his side of events out there. But as the president so often does, he sort of steps on what his intended message was going to be. Today the headline were all getting from this, the thing thats resonating the most, is the idea of his accusation that president obama, other predecessors, didnt communicate to the families of fallen loved ones when that is simply not the case and has been widely blasted from both sides of the aisle as inappropriate comment from a commander in chief. And matthew, on puerto rico, ive read its been said about the president that he cant hear the absence of empathy in his answers. He, when wronged, when he perceives hes been wronged, he tries to relitigate as he did again today and it comes off as victim blaming, all these 3. 5 million american citizens in puerto rico. Thats right. He turned to the same script today that hes been using on puerto rico which is to say, first of all, its an island, which makes it more logistically difficult. And second of all, the United States government has been doing its job by getting the aids and supplies there, then its on the puerto rico government, the ones falling down on the job. Youre right, he doesnt understand how that and past tweets saying we cant be there forever, some people want everyone done for them, that was his most explosive comment on this. How that sounds like hes placing blame on the people of puerto rico, widely considered a subpar response by this administration to a massive natural disaster. Tamara, talk about what we know was the chaos behind the scenes as he spoke. We know that because we heard from the press conference. The press department after the press conference clarifying some of his remarks. Also talk about the visual of mcconnell today. It was the face that launched a thousand memes. Whether hostage themed or larry david themed. What did the twoshot, as they say in television, look like . That was sort of classic Mitch Mcconnell, he just sort of standing there and trying to look placid. You know, the thing that is really stands out to me about this is that this is the third time in about a week and a half that the president or one of his aides or Rex Tillerson have come out and said, everythings fine, these stories that youre reading, they arent right, everythings great. So you had Rex Tillerson come out and do his press conference. Then you had general kelly come out and give that come into the Briefing Room, which is vale really uncommon for a chief of staff to come out into the Briefing Room to simply say everythings fine, im not trying to control the president , when i make faces, thats just me thinking hard. So there this remarkable thing that has been happening, you know, every few days now where someone comes out and sort of says, no, the chaos thing that youre reading about isnt quite right. Kind of like a cop in a traffic accident. Nothing to see here, keep it moving. All right. Jonathan, the Associated Press stock and trade is writing those instant leads on deadline that we, all of us news consumers, get to see. What would your lead be about this event at the white house today . Go. President donald trump, the lead would be something along the lines of the president who enjoys pairing with reporters, attempts to control the narrative, attempts to push back, attempts to display that in improving his relationship with Senate Majority leader that hes trying to get some things done. This is a white house that does not have much in the way of a confidence in can point to. They need help from the senate. The same senate that the president feuds with constantly. Members of his own party, he goes after by name often. He needs Senate Majority leader for tax reform, for other goals. Hes trying to suggest, project to his supporters, look, were in control, were going to get some things accomplished. Our thanks to our leadoff panel on a monday night. Matthew nussbaum, tamara keith and jonathan lemire. Thank you all. Still ahead after our first break tonight, bill kristol is with us to talk about the war within the Republican Party happening now. General Barry Mccaffrey is back with us for more on this threat from north korea, a development on that front late today. And up next, more on the president s comments on our fallen men and women in uniform and his accusation that his predecessors didnt reach out like he does and speak to their families. That and more as our broadcast continues on a monday night. You push yourself every day. Tempurpedic helps you recover every night. Only tempur material precisely conforms to your body for up to twice as much pressure relieving power. So youll sleep deeply. And wake up, feeling powerful. Find an exclusive retailer at tempurpedic. Com. From godaddy in fact, 68 of people who have built their. Website using gocentral, did it in under an hour, and you can too. Build a better website in under an hour. With gocentral from godaddy. Those comments and more today from the president caused fury from former Obama Administration officials, especially one telling nbc news, President Trumps claim is wrong. President obama engaged families of the fallen and Wounded Warriors throughout his presidency through calls, letters, visits to section 60 at arlington, visits to walter reed, visits to dover, regular meetings with goldstar families at the white house and across the country. Other responses were less measured. Former obama deputy chief of staff alyssa mattromonico wrote on twitter, thats a bleeping lie to say president obama or past president s didnt call the Family Members of soldiers killed in action, hes a deranged animal. Former Deputy National security adviser ben rhodes also posted on twitter, this is an outrageous and disrespectful lie even by trump standards. Also obama never attacked a goldstar family. The white house responded with a statement of its own saying, the president wasnt criticizing predecessors but stating a fact. When american heroes make the ultimate sacrifice, president s pay their respects. Sometimes they call, sometimes they send a letter, other times they have the opportunity to meet Family Members in person. This president , like his predecessors, has done each of these. Individuals claiming former president s, such as their bosses, called each family of the fallen, are mistaken. Thats where this debate stands. And with us tonight, paul rico ff, founder and ceo of iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. Platoon leader in iraq formerly. Jeremy bash with us, former chief of staff at the cia and pentagon. Also an msnbc National Security analyst. Paul, i looked up this figures. Total wounded, just over 20,000. Total dead in iraq, 4,530. Total wounded in action, over 32,000. These are all your brothers and sisters in uniform. You have them serving all over the planet tonight. Total wounded in action, over 32,000. These are all your brothers and sisters in uniform. You have them serving all over the planet tonight. How did you react to what the president said today . I was surprised. I mean, ive been in this space now for, you know, a decade and a half. I know president s call, they write letters, they visit, they do all those things. I saw president bush do it, i saw president obama do it. I think all of us in the community saw that. I want to take a step back here. I think what we all found throughout the trump run and the Trump Presidency is that issues of National Security, veterans, military, the stakes are higher, the march of error is smaller. The margin of error is very small. I think youll see both sides of the aisle hold him accountable on this and hopefully on all issues of national defense, Veterans Issues and military going forward. Theres also a bigger question he didnt answer, hasnt answered. What are they doing in niger . Four special forces folks that were killed in niger. We havent had a National Conversation about what theyre doing there, what their mission is and what their families and the rest of the military can expect from what might be a prolonged engagement there. Yeah, would be nice to know more about that. Mr. Bash, we asked that you be us tonight because you have served at the pentagon in wartime. Youve served up close with former secretary leon panetta. Youve seen this process. Tell us about it. Brian, on august 6th, 2011, we lost 30 guys when a helicopter was shot out of the sky in wardok province, afghanistan. John kelly, now the chief of staff, who was then serving in the pentagon as senior military adviser to panetta, called the secretary, called myself and told us about it and with the president , many of us went to dover, not only to greet back the remains of our fallen heroes, but, in fact, to console and condole the family and friends of the loved ones. It was a huge haul. I saw the president personally, president obama go up to each Family Member and spend several moments with each. This is something the president did regularly. President bush had to do it. Previous president had to do it. They make phone calls, handwrite letters. Visit with goal star families. For President Trump today to say his predecessors did not reach out to the families is a disgraceful and despicable lie, especially 12 days after the biggest combat death in his out to the families is a disgraceful and despicable lie, especially 12 days after the biggest combat death in his presidency, played. 126 holes of golf and yet to reach out our even speak publicly about those deaths. Paul rieckhoff, of course, thankfully the tempo of battle has cooled. Were not seeing the numbers sometimes weekly of