On day 277 of the Trump Administration, and in a squabble that now as we said, enters its second week, the president today could not resist an ongoing fight with a gold star widow who is pregnant and grieving and going through the darkest days of her life. She buried her husband and the father of her children on saturday, and today turning back to policy, we heard from the pentagon about the ambush that killed her husband and three other u. S. Soldiers. Theres also new reporting from nbc news tonight which says, quote, an emerging theories among investigators is that the Army Special Forces soldiers ambushed in niger were set up by terrorists who were tipped off in advance about a meeting in a village sympathetic to local isis affiliates, three u. S. Officials who have been briefed on the matter told nbc news. Today it was the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff who forthrightel took questions from reporters at the pentagon for 4 3 minutes, explaining what he could. He said the task force these four americans were a part of was involved in a fire fight for about an hour before they called for help. From there he said it took another hour to get air support to them in the form ultimately of french mirage fighter jets. He promised more information as the investigation progressed. More importantly we owe the families of the fallen more information and thats what the investigation is designed to identify. I can tell you once we find out that Sergeant Johnson was missing, we brought the full weight of the u. S. Government to bear in trying to to try to recover his body. This morning his widow spoke publicly about her husband for the first time. She said the man she knew from the age of six was a great father. Called him an awesome soldier of the she also shared this about her phone call with the president. What he said was the president. Yes, the president said that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts any ways. And i was it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it. He couldnt remember my husband name. The om way he remember my husband name because he told me he had my husband report in front of him, and thats when he actually said la david. I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband name. And that what hurt me the most because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he riks his lie for our country, why cant you remember his name . Is there anything u like to say to the president now . No. I dont no, i dont have nothing to say to him. Mrs. Johnson is six months pregnant with the couples third child. Donald trump did have something to say to her today. He wrote on twitter this morning, quote, i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson and spoke his name from beginning without hesitation. But apparently even some of the members of Trumps Administration are ready for him to go. The New York Times stated, quote, the white house officials conceded privately they have to find a way to move boo i dont understand the episode. A reporter from the local abc affiliate in raleigh was the first to report a balanced ridge family received a at that,000 check from trump months after he gave them a condo lessons call. The check is dated october 18, the same date as this Washington Post article that first brought this promise to light. And theres this. Further reporting from the atlantic, quote, the Trump Administration is scrambling to defend the president s characterization of his communications with grieving military families, including rush delivering letters from the president to the families of Service Members killed months ago. Donald trump falsely claimed this week that he had called virtually all fallen Service Members families since his time in office. This brings us to our leadoff panel to start the week on a monday night. Robert costa, vivian sew la ma, and peter baker. Vivian, first off and straightaway, for thoeks watching tonight who didnt have the luxury or the ability to see the pentagon News Conference today, what do people need to know about what we learned about this ambush today . Well, what the to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Joseph Dunford came out and really wanted to explain that this investigation is ongoing. He wasnt really forthcoming with answer as to how this attack happened on our soldiers in niger, but he did say that the families deserved to get an answer and the American People deserved to have answers as well. And he took that very seriously. He also somewhat explained the procedures, the protocols in the military for what happens in these cases. You know, he was talking about with regard to mrs. Johnsons comments about not seeing her husbands body. That sometimes they recommend that they shouldnt see the body of the deceased, the victim, because sometimes obviously they go through a lot of trauma and theyre just disfigured. And so he really zpland that in a way that really tried to lay out the pentagons case in this in a very sort of distant way from whats going on in the white house and President Trumps comments in the last couple of days especially. We should emphasize he did so with empathy, which has been missing from so much of the conversation of late. Robert costa, your colleagues at the Washington Post have reported, and you know this well, the behavior by the president , the reignition of this as a debate now entering its second week is part of a pattern. Quite quote from this piece before i get your reaction. Trumps actions since then followed a careful formula he long ago devised for winning a skimmerish which has been devised by senior white house officials, make it a fight, use policy and never apologize. The conflict bears all the hallmarks of a typical trump rumble, overboard posts, tweeted namecalling, partisan attacks, aides ensnared in controversy and a steady effort to pin the blame for the whole hull aba loo on the news media. The only problem is in this case were talking about a gold star widow and her family. Brian, theres alarm across the Republican Party tonight because of the president s conduct, the way he has gone about this entire episode. In particular getting ahead of the widow and her own statements about the situation, about that phone call. And the white house, im told by republicans who were in contact with officials there, theyre asking the white house to stop engaging with congresswoman wilson and having this public spat day in, day out as the party tries to move forward on tax reforl and answer some of these questions about whats going on in niger with regard to fighting terrorism. Robert, i asked not knowing how youre going to take to this question all the time youve spent in his orbit, around him covering him, has this surprised even you . Not the least, brian. This is who President Trump is. He is combative, relentless. He does not mind wading into territories that most politicians would say is not the place they want to go. He embraces incendiary public fights because he believes it fuels his own power and he always wants to assert strength, even in a situation as delicate and tragic as this one. Peter baker, the question about exposure, all the ancillary damage to the people in his circle, perhaps people on capitol hill far from the white house. And i would argue that weve already seen this past weekend something of a tarnishing of the good name of the general kelly, who is now known for this episode. Utoh. Peter . Yeah. Im sorry. I thought you were going to play a tape from general kelly. Youre exactly right. General kelly had a sterling reputation going into this. He was seen as the grown up in the white house who was going to steer the president toward safer ground are politically and instead what happened last week was he came out and seeped to throw more fuel on that incendiary fire bob costa just mentioned rather than trying to calm it down and say we dont want to have a fight with a widow. We want to support the widow of somebody who gave his life for this country. He came out and disputed her account that was passed through the congresswoman, attacked the congresswoman for an event using false memories of that incident. I think what we learn about this is that general kelly in fact is a little bit more attuned and aligned with President Trumps way of doing business than people had thought. That he in fact is not somebody calming the president down but agreeing and encouraging and even backing him up in the middle of a fight like this. Vivian, papers from london to do you buy to hong kong are carrying stories about the president of the United States. They may not understand every small move in this story, but hes in a skimmerish with a gold star widow in our country. Talk about the lasting effects from this now eight day or so news cycle. Well, we saw it during the campaign when he would go after the kahn family because he was criticized by the father of this deceased soldier and everyone thought it was just one ep sod, an isolated incident. But now what were seeing is the president react very strongly to any kind of criticism, even if it is a gold star family, that he really doesnt hold back the puchlgds. And one thing thats very interesting is the president really made clear that he wanted to be the president for veterans and he was going to go after for them. But if the families of these veterans or soldiers attack him, then thats where he pulls out all the punches basically. And so its really interesting to see how he really cannot take criticism of in any form and this is definitely something that even people within his administration are trying to get him to back off this. Even credit i of the administration and the president have said they are in some ways theyre lifted by the fact that general mattis is there at the pentagon. General kelly is in the white house. Of a deep and heavy military presence of the Upper Echelon of this administration. What was the president informed about. When im calling lawmakers today, brian, theyre telling me on the phone, republicans somewhat irate that they dont feel like theyre getting the information they need. Thats why senator mccain is threatening supts up to chill. This is more about the widow and the congresswoman. The widow of course and the family are the center of all of our thoughts but politically this is about a brerd question of what did this administration do to handle isis and terrorism threats in africa and how are they going to move forward in the future. This time i am going to play you an audio of senator corker, a snippet that a lot of people found the most depressing Development Today about starting with the president s visit to capitol hill tomorrow but also years in the future. Tomorrow is a photo on the part. Nothing more, nothing less and image to read anything more into it would be spending a lot of time on something that shouldnt be spent a lot of time on. Its going to be up and down for the next years and people just thats just the way its going to be. So read anything into tomorrow more than a photo op. Youve got to remember, tax reform is our agenda. Its the senates agenda. Its the house agenda. This was something thats been on our agenda long before the president ran for president. So i mean, to act as if its his agenda, its our agenda. You understand . Yeah. Tomorrows a photo op. Okay . Peter, this to me is unplooebl. This is not herby the back bench senator. This is the chairman of Senate Foreign relations, granted he is on his way out and is not going to stand for reelection. But branding tomorrow a photo op over 12 hours before the motorcade pulls up to the colon aid at the capital and reminding know, hey, tax reform starts up here and not down there in pennsylvania avenue. Well, look, senator corker obviously has decided that now that ice not running for reelection that hes going to say what he thinks and hes going to say it as bluntly as you heard him say. It always is when a president comes to capitol. Thats the whole point. Photo ops have a place in our own politics. Its a way of reassuring the party that youre with them, that you stand with them. Thats in doubt with this president. Last week with Mitch Mcconnell trying to patch through things. He needs every single vote he can get out of the Republican Caucus in order to win this tax fight. He has very little chance of significant democratic support. So hes trying to be a good republican each as his own former strategist sep is trying to wage war against incumbents. You are guys are great. And hearing you out, our thanks. Still ahead, why Robert Muellers russia investigation may matter more now than ever before. But coming up next, can the Republican Party be home to both john mccain and the aforementioned steve bannon . That and more when the 11th hour continues on a monday night. Ing whats your relationship like with the president . Almost none. Zero. Thats terrible. Almost none. How about that. Senior senator from arizona, john mccain. A unique voice in the senate for two decades or so saying today he has almost no relationship with the president , a fellow republican. Mccain had a lot to say this morning on the view, especially relating to the matter of the ambush in niger. Werkd not be fighting about a brave american who lost his life serving his country. That should not be the topic of discussion in america today. Yes. [applause] it still makes me mad when i thank that if we all ask to serve, wonderful. But if some of us are allowed not to because of our income or our position or our influence, then that is a zbras. I dont consider him so much as a draft dodger as i feel that the system was so wrong that certain americans could evade their responsibilities to serve the country. Weve got to lift the national dialogue. Lets stop insulting each other. Lets start respecting each other. The point is that we need to have a kinder, more respectful but vigorous debate and discussion, but based on what we want the country to do, not whether somebody is a jerk or not. Lets talk about what we just saw with jonathan la mere and our friend robert costa. Both gentlemen are msnbc analysts. Jonathan, here is a guy who said on 60 minutes he was given, what, between 3 and 14 chance of survival. Has an aggressive form of brain cancer. Hes in the thick of the fight in the middle of his second kound of chemo. Doesnt scare easily. Hes a singular voice and yet hes racing military service at this time right now in the Trump Administration. Its not a coincidence that hes doing so, brian. This is a moment where john mccain stood there today. Hes someone who has conducted his life admirably since. He makes his comments in the midst of a president in on ongoing feud about what happens the most sacred duty of the commander in chief, trying to conceal grieving families of americas war. And john mccain clearly state Department Think the president is doing a good job of that. He brought up today trumps defer wants, the idea that five different times, including once for bone spurs, he avoided being sent to john mccain. He has suggested that he wishes things were didnt in this country and that President Trump conducted himself with more honor ask more grace on this particular issue. It goes beyond. Youve heard the quote there that he has no relationship with the president. Certainly its another example of this president not doing the outreach he needs to members of his own party to get his legislative agenda through. But its bigger than that. This is someone john mccain who represents things that donald trump does not. And he does so now also on the eve of the president s asia trip role of steve bannon. Since all these pieces are moving beneath our feet, this is from the Washington Post, bannon and trump talk several times per week. Headline, the president s wing man, absent in the west wing, bannon stays close to trump. Bannon and trump are anything but he is strapgd. Instead they have remained in frequent contact chatting as much as sel times a week. The conversations are dictated by the whips of the president who dials his former chief strategist when something he reads or hears peeks his interest. Much is made about sep being the socalled whisperer for perfect. Whats more important about bannon at this moment in the country, if you compare him to senator mccain and hiss recent speech, they are at opposite views of where this country should go, especially with regard to foreign policy. Senator mccain said in his speech about halfbaked spurious nationalism. That was his quote and he was referencing not really President Trumps policy in any specific way but bannons world view. He wants to unravel the american internationalist approach, the embrace of institutions weve seen in the establishment of both parties in recent decades and for that reason bannon is a threat not because hes in the president s ear but hes going against how we as reporters, politicians have always considered the norms of american life, order in foreign policy. Jonathan, i want to reply a snippet of bannon describing his position in the president s life. Well talk about it after this. The United States senate in particular has done, i think, a terrible job supporting President Trump. And let me Say Something about President Trump. Ive had the great honor of being the ceo of his campaign and being his chief strategist and senior counsel in his white house and now im proud to say his wing man outside sfwhoo the wng man outside. What percentage, this calls for an abject guess on your part probably, what percentage of the Republican Party does that man in that black blazer represent . The question is is it enough in certain states to support primary challenges to establishment republicans. I think there are some states where near not too concerned about these insurgent candidates. Others they are, perhaps arizona for one. And i think that this is someone who steve bannon obviously has a real sense of self in his own position here. Theres no question he zefbls credit for the campaign. He deserves credit for smuting a lot of the policies particularly in the early months of this white house. He also had a very fractured relationship with many key players in the white house, Jared Kushner for one and at times the president. Getting or seeking credit. He does talk to steve bannon on occasion, but hes also shown hes given mixed messages. Right before this controversy exploded in the rose guarden and the condo lessons calls, earlier that day in the white house the president sat with members in the east room and suggested that, yes, he was in favor with a lot of what steve bannon had to do. A couple hours later in the rose garden standing next to Mitch Mcconnell he said you know what . Im probably going to talk steve out of a lot of that. If you see a pattern to any of this, hop on it. Let us know what you find. Our thanks to jonathan la mere and robert costa for continuing this conversation. Really interesting and to some troubling stuff. Coming up, the next face to appear on capitol hill as part of this russia investigation. Two committees on the hill, in fact, the 11th hour back with that right after this. Hes brought us to the brink of nuclear war. Obstructed justice at the fbi. And in direct violation of the constitution, hes taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down news organizations that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . Im tom steyer and, like you, im a citizen who knows its up to us to do something. Its why im funding this effort to raise our voices together and demand that elected officials take a stand on impeachment. A Republican Congress once impeached a president for far less. Yet, today, people in congress and his own administration know this president is a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us and tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. Our country depends on it. Some news here on russia tonight. Special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into russian interference may emerge supreme among all as the congressional investigations run into trouble, most of it based on partisan ship. The New York Times reported, quote, nine months into the Trump Administration any notion that capitol hill would provide a comprehensive, authoritative and partisan accounting of the extraordinary he was of a hostile power to disrupt american democracy appears to be dwindling. This comes as nbc news reports mueller has expanded his investigation to include this man, veteran washington lobbyist tony podesta and his firm the Podesta Group for business conducted in ukraine. Podesta is the brother of the Clinton Campaign manager john podesta, who is not a part of this. According to the report the investigation into him and his Company Began as a Fact Finding Mission into a ukrainian nonprofit and Paul Manaforts role into the campaign. This has now morphed into a criminal inquiry into whether the firm violated the foreign agents registration act. Here to talk about all of it tonight one of the coauthors of that report. So, julia, lets talk about this and that tony podesta has been caught up with this means what about the Mueller Investigation . Well, you know, i was just thinking brian about this new york city times piece talking about how its become political on the hill. If anyone is concerned that muellers investigation is politically motivated they need look no further than this probe into tony podesta. His brother worked as Hillary Clintons campaign manager. Hes been trumpeted liberal democratic causes for his whole career. It will ties to a pro Russia Political Party and mueller is looking at his releases which he did not disclose until after it was publicly reported last august that he had worked for this organization and their ties. So as he started to look at manafort and he wanted to do more fact finding this came to light and now could lead to criminal charges. Jill, another story that got our attention over the past few days was this headline, this is from axios, trump pledges to personally pay some legal bills of white house staff and associates. And if youre just a person Walking Around and you see that you think how nice, the boss is going to make people whole after any discomfort they may have suffered by din of working for him. Any problem with that, jill . Well, it certainly caught my attention too, brian. And yes, it is a cause of concern. During watergate one of the obstruction of justice acts was paying hush money. Now, there we had proof that the money was paid for Legal Defense in exchange for the witnesses remaining silent. They were not to cooperate, and if they didnt, their legal fees would be paid. So you have to have more than just the payment of the fees. You have sof some link age to it being a kwid pro quo for silence. Is the payment is to maintain his control over them, then Donald Trumps paying it is wrong. It also could be a way of evading any restrictions on the rnc paying for it. Theyre paying Donald Trumps legal fees and it certainly looks bad to all of those people who cant afford to pay their own whereas donald trump could apoured to pay his to have the rnc paying for him and not for them, but there may be restrictions on the use of Campaign Money to pay for staff. So it is a nice gesture, but im afraid that its going to look very politically bad and that most people will view it as trying to keep witnesses from telling the truth about what they know. Julia, we are also reporting tonight that mr. Cohn, dots long time personal attorney is going to appear not at a public haefrg but behind the saepts with investigators from both house intel and senate intel as early as this week. Remind us what exposure he might have. So, of course, michael cohn is trumps personal lawyer and hes someone who has been with rt trump forgs for a long time. This goes way back. Epds trump well and he knows the way he operates. He knows what kind of knowledge he may have had of some of the meetings that his Campaign Associates had. He holds a lot of answers but as his personal lawyer hes likely to be loyal and a lot of people are frustrated that this questioning, just like a lot of people is going to be in a closed session. These are a lot of answers that people want in a public forum but were just not getting that. If you had one at bat as a questioner, what would you ask . Well, i think julia is right about his general knowledge, but i think the specific thing that is bothering me is his connection with russia in two ways. One had to do with a meeting possibly in ukraine, but more importantly, his attempts to get help from the kremlin in building a trump tower in moscow. And we have emails that show the correspondence where he was asking for help. And this is at a time when donald trump was denying that there was any investment in russia or any interest in investing in rush or any attempt to understand in russia. So theres something that is directly contradicting what the public statements p trump were about investments in russia and it could be the follow the money sign that we know. So i would certainly be focusing on that for now. Thank you both for making us smarter on this. Julia ansly with us tonight from washington. Jill winebanks from chicago. Thank you both very much. Another break for us. And coming up, who was john mccain talking about today when he talked about those who evaded responsibility to serve their country in the vietnam era . A pugh lit zbler prize winner and a medal of honor recipient will join us when our broadcast continues. Is now a good time to refinance . Yes Mortgage Rates are historically low. The time to refinance your home is right now. Get started at lendingtree. Com. The only place you can compare up to five real offers, side by side, for free. Our average customer can significantly lower their monthly bills. Quick. Beat the feds next rate hike. Do not miss this window. Are you sure you have the best rate . It only takes 3 minutes to find out. Go to lendingtree. Com right now. 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. Senator john mccain this weekend fired a thinly veiled volley at President Trump. He mentioned bone spurs specifically, which happens to be given as the medical reason for Donald Trumps military deferment which kept him from having to serve in vietnam. And one aspect of the conflict, by the way, that i will never ever count enanswer is that we drafted the lowest income level of america and the highest income level found a doctor that would say that they had a bone spur. That is wrong. That is wrong. If were going to ask every american to serve, every american should serve. During his appearance today on the view, john mccain said he doesnt consider President Trump a draft dodger, but he blamed the system at the time, saying, quote, certain americans could evade responsibility to serve the country. Its an interesting topic and a puzzling one. And here to talk about it with us tonight, jack jacobs, john meacham is here as well. Jack, id like to begin with you. Its a complicated topic. I come from a family, world war ii era captain. Had two songs. He suspected both of their efforts to do everything they could not to go to vietnam, which surprised us. When you look to your right and left when you were in vietnam, did you have ivy leaguers . Did you have guys from the Old Neighborhood . What was it like and how did you feel about the people who fought and the people who got out. We had a little bit of both. Its a common misunderstanding, but in fact i think fewer than 50 , i think it was closer to 25 or 30 of the people who served during the vietnam era were actually draft. Everybody else volunteered. Some volunteered because if they didnt volunteer theyd wind up being in a military occupational specialty they didnt want to be in. But i think a lot more people volunteered, and i was one of them and a lot of my friends were too, volunteered than actually most people realize. Having said that, never theless it was an unequitable system. You didnt get drafted if you were married or in college. Later on in the war you werent sunl to the draft even if you were in college and graduated than later on in the war. By and large the large majority of people who were drafted who couldnt scrape the draft by one reason or another happen to be people who couldnt otherwise escape. Were not very happy about getting drafted, although now when theyre 70 years old they look back at their service with a great deal of pride. John, we hasten to point out that in the civil war you could indeed higher someone to take your place i also want to know how our wars have changed over the years. Well, its amazing, isnt it, 25 years after the 199 it campaign when this Cultural Divide became a central part of our politics it continues. And one of the reasons, i think, that were in the 17th year now this month of the war in afghanistan, one of the reasons is not as prominent, is not as top of mind as it should be. One of the reasons that given our wars in afghanistan and iraq, imagine thinking that you could be for suspect and 15 years at war and no one can name a geneticel, no one can really think of a battle offhand. The country that had normandy and patton. I that will return. I shall return. Its to the 1 of an all volunteer remarkable force, but i think there is a cultural division. And, you know, i sit here and feel its wildly inadequate. When i went to west point one day and it took me about a year to overcome just how remarkable those young people were. And so i would take the default position if i were the kmapder in chief would be absolute honor, absolute deference to those who have worn the uniform. Thank you both for your honesty. Im going to take a quick break. No one is going to go anywhere. Coming up well talk about the president and his political crisis of his own making. Today awarded another vietnam veteran the medal of honor. Well talk about it when we come back t. Once they landed in the clearing, they rushed to the jungle for many needed cover. Soon another man was shot outside their defensive perimeter. Mike immediately rushed to his injured comrade, firing at the enemy as he ran. In the middle of the clearing, under the machine gunfire, mike treated the wounded soldier. He shielded the man with his own body and carried him back to safety. But thfts just the beginning. President trump today awarding the medal of honor to retired u. S. Army captain Gary Mike Rose for his heroic actions during the vietnam war. It was back in 1970 rose was attached to the fifth special forces Group Fighting where they werent supposed to be in laos. He ignored his own injuries to pull the chopper crew and members of his unit from the burning crash sight. Rose now becomes a member of a storied group of veterans, those who have been awarded their nations highest military honor. This now makes it 73 men alive today to hold that honor. One of them happens to be here. Our friend and colleague jack jacobs. Jack, i have to threaten you that we have a photo of you and president nixon the day you were awarded. How has the action of being there you are. How has the action of being awarded the medal of honor changed . Well, our wars are changed. We used to fight continuously and now we fight in fragmented places at fragmented times with a force thats an all volunteer force and therefore not necessarily representative of everybody. I think theres a large and i think in certain cases insurmountable gap thats opened up between the people who have served and the people who were serving. That wasnt the case back in the day. Our friend paul rykoff made this point last week. Hes tired of hearing the military used as a shield, hearing people blame the antitaking a knee protest in the nfl on the troops somehow vaguely, hearing that we cant question generals. He thinks the last thing our Society Needs is another impediment between the two classes, those people who are signing up to fight our wars and those of you who enjoy our freedom. Theres already a gulf and i think we need to bring it. Its going to be difficult to do when you dont have to serve. When our battles are being fought in ditch ar at places many. Speaking of niger. We have troops in uganda and thousand of troops in gentleman beauty, for example, but we have people in the philippines and so on. I think its circumstances in which this gap, i think it depends to get wider overtime and in a fragrance minted and polarized sewed gets wider yet and its extremely dangerous. The president is in this fight with a gold star widow and awards the medal today. Has this president s lack of military experience been more pronounced to you than others who have lacked military experience. I think like so much of this presidency theres a certain astroturf quality to it. He likes the thee tricks of the military. He likes having generals around. He went to military school. But its almost as though its a reality show. Yeah. And its more a show than reality. I think when kwontd with the flesh and the blood and the sackry pies, i think he calls back on a level of insecurity, falls victim, i should say, to a level of insecurity that leads to this terrible episode with the gold star wife and this sergeant did a noble and great thing. And were talking about him not because of his noeblt but because the president doesnt have the emotional capacity to console a widow, which is a fundamental part of the presidency. I think thats all exacerbated in his case because he is actually so physically and politically isolated from even his own party. I mean, this is the first trip down the other end of pennsylvania avenue in, as senator corker says its just a photo op. I think theres some truth to that. And so exactly what youre talking about i think is made even worse by his isolation. As one of 73 living guys accident accept our thanks and were proud top you. It was a great honor to wear the uniform. I can tell you that. Thank you. Our great thanks. Coming up, five former president s walk into a Houston Arena having all been in the arena before. Were back with that after this. Hi, im the internet you know whats difficult . Armless bowling. You got this, jimmy you know whats easy . Building your website with godaddy. Pick a domain name. Choose a design. You can build a website in under an hour. Now thats a strike get your domain today and get a free trial of gocentral. Build a better website in under an hour. I love you. The last thing before we go toeptd is something you dont see of day, five former u. S. President s together in one place. In this case the charity tell cast to raise money for hurricane relief. And if you havent given, please do. Its been called the most exclusive club in the world for good reason. And remember, sfiet the fact that many of these men hard to defeat the other and disagreed diametrically on policy and outlook, they all get along and some of them have become close friends. The gathering was not without its moments. First of all, lady gaga was there. Thats always a moment. But there was also this which has since been memorialized on social media. Which were bush and obama laughing about while clinton was speaking . That may have to remain one of the exclusive secrets. 43 did not mention 45, having delivered a stinging speech days earlier about the dapgs of trumpism, though not by name. And our current times. Most americans are, however, comfort by the sight of our former leaders, older, wiser, mashed up together by history and destiny. And we are so fortunate to have five living expresident s. Its rare. Its only happened three other times in our history for a toelgt of four years of our existencement after all, this one picture captures 40 years of the american presidency in our still young democracy. Two of them are 93. Bush senior and jimmy carter. And one of them, carter, has volunteered to go to north korea and do what he can do avert nuclear war. So with a salute to our former president s, thats our broadcast on a monday night as we start off a new week. Thank you so much for being with us. Good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. Tonight on all in the president said that he knew what he signed up for. La David Johnsons widow speaks out as the president disputes her account. He couldnt remember my husband name. Tonight new reporting on pentagon documents that contradict trumps claims on gold star families as the calls for a john kelly apology grow. He owes an apology to the American People. Then caution. Gabe sherman on the latest Sexual Harassment scandal at fox news. The silencing of them after the fact, it has to stop. And todays bill oreilly explosion