Rare step of calling on the white house chief of staff to apologize to a member of congress. And now, for five days in a row, the president s handling of the families of fallen american soldiers has been at the center of the news. A continuing story of the president s own making. The president has now spoken, for the first time, about his comments the chief of staff made in the White House Briefing room yesterday. Fourstar retired marine general john kelly was moved to discuss publicly something that is intensely personal for him, his sons death in afghanistan, just to stress how sacred that topic should be. Now, in a new interview, the president is talking about it again. He was so offended, because he was in the room when i made the call. And so were other people, and the call was a very nice call. He was so offended that a woman would be that somebody would be listening to that call, he was he actually couldnt believe it. Actually, he said to me, sir, this is not acceptable. This is really not and he knew i was so nice look, ive called many people and i would think that every one of them appreciated it. In his Briefing Room remarks this week, general kelly also criticized Florida Democratic congresswoman Frederica Wilson. Kelly said he had seen her speak two years ago at the dedication of a new Fbi Field Office named for two Law Enforcement officers killed in a fire fight. He accused her of selfaggrandizing in the speech, saying she talked about how she called president obama to get funding for the building. Kelly said he was stunned by it, called her an empty barrel making noise. But a local newspaper today shared the video of the entire speech. You can find it, watch it all on the internet. She speaks effusively about Law Enforcement. At one point, asking all Law Enforcement officers present to stand and be saluted. She praises democrats and republicans, she asks the audience to repeat after her the motto of the fbi, fidelity, bravery and integrity. And she receives a standing ovation. In light of the fact that we can now see the whole speech, today, reporters asked White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sta sanders stood by his statement. He said he was stunned over the comments, about her own actions in congress, including lobbying former president obama on legislation. As general kelly pointed out, if you are able to make a sacred act like honoring american heroes all about yourself, youre an empty barrel if you dont understand that reference, ill put it a little more simply. As we say in the house, all hat, no cattle. Have you seen the speech . I have. And then you know that most of it was her effusively praising these fbi agents and when she was talking about what she did in congress, she was not talking about getting security of 20 million, she was talking about naming the building of the fbi agents who she then went on to effusively praise. And that was the bulk of the speech. She also mentioned that and had quite a few comments that day that werent part of that speech and werent part of that video that were also witnessed by many people that were there. What general kelly referenced yesterday. Tell us specifically, because exactly what he said. There was a lot of grand standing. He was stunned that she took that opportunity to take it about herself. Can he come out here and talk to us . I think hes addressed that pretty thoroughly. He was wrong yesterday in talking about getting the money. The money was if you want to go after general kelly, thats up to you, but i think that that, if you want to get into a debate with a fourstar marine general, i think that thats it would be great if he came out here. Highly inappropriate. Remember that comment right there. A few hours later, after facing criticism about saying reporters should not debate generals, the white house put out this statement. Quote, of course everyone can be questioned, but after witnessing general kellys heartfelt and somber account, we should all be able to agree that impugning his credibility on how best to honor Fallen Heroes is not appropriate. Today, the white house also criticized the media for continuing to talk about this story. You guys are the ones talking a lot about that story and he felt it was important to address you and all of america directly. This story has been given an enormous amount of coverage over the last 4 ho8 hours, and he thought it was important that people got a full and accurate picture of what took place. It should have ended yesterday after general kellys comments, but it didnt. It continued. And it is still continuing today. It continues in large part because just a few hours after kelly finished in the Briefing Room, the president wrote this on twitter. Just before 11 00 at night. The fake news is going crazy with wacky congresswoman wilson, a democrat, who was secretly on a very personal call and gave a total lie on content. And tonight, as we mentioned the Washington PostEditorial Board is out with this, quote, john kelly owes the congresswoman an apology. Lets get to that with our leadoff panel tonight. Phillip rucker from the Washington Post. You gene scott, political reporter, also with the Washington Post. We might add, hes been writing nonstop on this story this week. And shannon petty peace, White House Correspondent for bloomberg is here with us in our new york studios. Mr. Rucker, ill read from your Editorial Board tonight, and as we said, this is dramatic. It is unfortunate that the sacrifice of brave people such as the four soldiers killed in niger can get overpowered by the petty namecalling of politics. That is a point mr. Kelly was trying to make thursday, and that he underkwut his misr misrepresentation of miss wilson. He needs to set the record straight. Phillip, how did this go so wrong . Well, let me just start by pointing out to the viewers that dont know the ins and outs of the newspaper business, im a report end not part of the Editorial Board, so, thats forgive me. There is a wall between the two, ideally. Yes. This all went wrong, starting monday afternoon when the president made this an issue and began to politicize this incident in niger, where, you know, four soldiers were killed. The president had been silent for 1 Straight Days about that. And immediately, you know, began an attack, basically, on president obama, and it just spiraled out of control for this white house for five Straight Days, and i think yesterday, chief of staff john kelly wanted to use his credibility as a battlefield commander, as somebody who has lost his own son to war, to come out and try to put an end to this story, but he did not get his facts straight. He misrepresented what congresswoman wilson did in florida, and thats just compounded the problems for this administration. Phillip, ive watched this story covered on television, weve been part of it now for five days, and ive heard over and over and over that the white house has a tool in its tool box to stop this and other issues before they become a weeklong story, and that is to take the high road and end it, in this case, again, the road not taken . Thats right. But this this is a president who hasnt ever really taken the high road when these controversies come up. He always wants to fight back. He always wants to defend himself. He always wants to pounce on whoever he thinks his enemy of the moment might be, and in this case, his enemy is frederika wilson, the congresswoman from florida who is not only the representative of the johnson family, which lost this young man in africa, but he was a mentor in her program. She was a family friend. She knew this family very well. And thats one of the reasons that she felt so compelled to come out and speak up about it. Hey, you gene, your headline makes up my next question. My first to you, what john kelly got wrong about representative Frederica Wilson and the johnson family. Can you share what that, our viewers, the short version . Yeah, absolutely. This is a story about identity, and how we view people. And i think the general communicated that he was stunned that a member of congress would participate in this phone call. And i think what he left out for people is that representative wilson is not primarily a member of congress to the johnson family. Shes known them for decades. She was the principal of Sergeant Johnsons fathers school. And two of his brothers were in her mentorship program. She very much is like family to them. She referred to him as her son. And so, she wasnt listening to the phone call as a lawmaker. Chef was listening to the phone call as a family friend, if not even a family member, and i think what it got to, what i tried to get to, is the idea that for many americans, family is a far broader concept than maybe the nuclear, traditional family ideas that we see perhaps championed by general kelly, and i think in his attempt, in his effort to discredit her, he ended up telling this story that wasnt even true, and more importantly, had absolutely nothing to do with why these four young men were in niger. And here we are on a friday night and were still talking about it. Shannon, there was general kelly in the Briefing Room, and i think it was Nicolle Wallace who said this week, he can only do this once. He put the full weight of his emotion as a gold star father, his moral authority, the stars that used to rest of his shoulders, and yet tonight, here he is, kind of the story. Right. When i imagine he wanted anything but to be the story of course. At the beginning of this week, when we set off on this week on monday. When you look at companies, and how they handle crisis communication in situations like this, and President Trump, a businessman, he was going to run the white house, hes going to run the country like a business. Well, i covered companies for a long time before this white house gig i could not imagine a company handling crisis communication like this. You get your facts straight. If you are going to respond, if youre going to send someone out to respond, know its going to fan the flames, its going to drag the story on a day longer and you have to have statement sealed airtight. You cant come out and make a even the tiniest error, because it will fan the flames, exacerbate the story. So, you know, theres Sarah Sanders has been doing communications, politics, campaigns, pretty much her whole life because of the work she did, coming up with her father, but from a p. R. Communications standpoint, if you talk to people who do corporate prpd, they would tell you, theyve done everything wrong this week, to make this story drag out for such a long period of time. Phillip rucker, youre the White House Bureau chief for the Washington Post, and when you hear from the podium the notion that a retired fourstar marine general ought not to be questioned on Something Like this, what does that do to you . Ah, its pretty chilling. I was watching that press Conference Today and couldnt believe what Sarah Sanders said. Its worth noting that she did come out with that statement to try to clarify it a little bit, but there are two problems with that statement. One is that even if he were a military official, it is our job as journalists to ask questions of every public official, whether theyre in the military or in the government as a civilian, but secondly, he was not speaking yesterday in the capacity as a general. He was speaking as the white house chief of staff, as effectively a political staffer trying to help his boss, the president , get out of a Public Relations crisis. Eugene, it strikes me that here we are, having the discussion, all around this issue, once again. Its been reduced to this word i keep hearing this week is obscene. This is an obscene turn for a conversation that should be about our brave americans willing to put on the uniform and go all over the world for their country. We have these four returning veterans who didnt make it, tell us a couple more things about Sergeant Johnson, so we can try to make this a little bit more about him. Absolutely. I mean, he was married to his high school sweetheart, who was pregnant, and unfortunately, was a mother of two other young kids, a 6yearold and i believe a 2yearold boy, as well. He was really into popping wheelies on bikes when he was a kid, just a very active young man. And just very much involved in trying to figure out how he could serve his country and give back to his community, and thats why he got involved in the 5,000 Role Models Program that the representative founded, and thats why he got involved in the military. And so, this whole story is about him and his service and his sacrifice, in this war, in this area that so too americans are even aware of, and not just americans, i mean, we saw senator john mccain communicate that he has been made insufficiently aware of intelligence as to why Sergeant Johnson was there. So, i think its so important to focus on him, this young man who gave his life, to fight for freedom in the military, a community that the president sails he honors very much. And thank you for that, eugene. He is being laid to rest tomorrow in a military funeral, correct . Yes, absolutely. Okay. Shannon, one more question, and it is useful that you have covered other disciplines in life prior to this, because this may speak to that. Is there a broader lesson here on the people who are drawn into the center of this administration on what can happen to people who find themselves working for this administration . Well, if you think youre not going to be part of the story, you are going to be part of the story. Everyone in this inner circle of this president is under an immense scrutiny, is a huge piece of attention, you know, we just saw the sort of fan dom around sean spicer or steve bannon, theres so much interest and attention in this administration that nothose in e inner circle, they have a spotlight on them. And it seems like nine months in, they should have learned this now, but facts matter. The media, we will hold them accountable when the facts arent wright, we will question them on it, we will raise them, those points. If they dont want the conversation to continue down that path, get the facts straight and we wont keep asking about them. That would be my lessons at 11 00 on friday after a week like this. I get it. And i hope our viewers note, along with us, just how much these three print journalists have added to our discussion and the coverage at 11 00 eastern time on a friday night. Phillip rucker, eugene scott, shannon petty peace, our thanks to the three of you. Appreciate it very much. As we approach our first break tonight, still ahead, was the ambush that killed these four u. S. Soldiers in africa due in part to a massive intelligence failure . Plus, the white house says its highly inappropriate, as weve been reporting, to question a retired fourstar general. Up next, well ask a retired fourstar general what he thinks about that, when the 11th hour continues on a friday night. Hey, man. Oh nice man cave nacho . [ train whistle blows ] what . stop it mmhmm. Weve been saving a lot of money ever since we switched to progressive. This bar is legit. And now we get an even bigger discount from bundling home and auto. I can get used to this. It might take a minute. Swing and a miss slam dunk touchdown together sports touchdown breathe freely fast wmy congestions gone. I can breathe again i can breathe again vicks sinex. Breathe on. Alright, looks like weve got chips, ppretzels retzels . Plain, sourdough, spicy, sesame, chocolate covered, Peanut Butter filled, plain. Great. So what are we gonna watch . Oh show me fall tv. Only xfinity x1 brings you the best hand selected picks this fall. If you want to go after general kelly, thats up to you, but i think that if you want to get into a debate with a fourstar marine general, i think thats something highly inappropriate. White House Press SecretarySarah Huckabee sanders introducing this notion that generals, retired generals, even retired generals working in a political capacity, as a civil servant, as chief of staff in the trump white house, shouldnt be questioned, that that would somehow be inappropriate, or, as eli stokeles of the wall street journal put it, white house just implied that kellys rank and military service should deter the media from questioning the chief of staff. Lets ask a retired fourstar general, shall we . Barry mccaffrey. You want credentials . Two distinguished service crosses. U. S. Army ranger hall of fame. Numerous purple hearts, silver stars and four gold ones on his lapel when he retired from the army. He is also an msnbc military analyst. Also with us, political analyst steve schmidt, a veteran of the Bush White House and the mccain campaign. General, you are always a good sport about this, i dont mean to put you on the spot, i know its a Small Community of active and retired fourstar generals, but are we allowed to disagree. Do you get any of that at home . Well, i dont encourage it personally, brian, but i think, when it comes to the serious question i was a retired fourstar working in the clinton administration, in the white house, ran a 200person agency, took some serious shots out of the political system and, so, general kelly obviously is subject, not just as a white house chief of staff, but as a serving military officer, to being questioned by the media, by the congress, by the court system, of course, its, you know, its a democracy under the rule of law. But it sounded there, briefly, the