some might consider it striking considering a few days ago he seemed to leave the blame of the death of a navy s.e.a.l. on his generals. to talk more about this and the day's top headlines, i'm joined by retired general wesley clark, kevin barron, msnbc national security and military analyst and executive editor of "defense one" and marcel, former undersecretary of defense for intelligence under president obama. in a few minutes we'll get our own hans nichols, who is at that event. general clark, i would like to start with you. the president is on the "uss gerald ford." he's addressing sailors. he is trying to enjoy the optics of that. he's increasing defense spending. is that all being overshadowed by this drama that is only ratcheting up about his attorney general? >> that's certainly a concern. i happened to be in washington today. i'm hearing a lot about the drama. i'm happy to see him down there with the sailors. we love our men and women in