In february 1862 when willie was 11 1 2 years old, by which time abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln were president and first lady of the United States, february 20th, 1862, the lincolns lost yet another son. Willie lincoln, aged 11 1 2, died in the white house while his father was president and mother was first lady. Also of childhood illness, typhoid fever. President and first lady were plunged into profound grief. Abraham lincoln is believed by modern scholars whoto have suffered with profound depression in life and presidency. But what he and his wife went through in 1862 was something different. They had lost a first son in 1850, then a second son who had been born just after they lost their first one. Lost both little boys in childhood. And lincolns had this to deal with on top of Everything Else that was upon them. With country being in grips of civil war. And in that dark year, in 1862, with Everything Else that was going on with the country and for the white house and for the lincoln family, that winter in 1862, after his second son had died, president lincoln got word that an old friend of his from illinois, William Mccullough, had been killed fighting for union army in battle of mississippi. And you know one thing thats a blessing working in this building under the auspices of nbc news, i dont know that many other places where youre doing daily work you have a president ial historian on standby at all times. But we have that. H whenever it helps to contextualize the news we can call michael to see if there is something he knows of from president ial history that could help explain whats going on now in our current life. So we contacted michael besh loss for his help trying to figure out if there was something unprecedented about President Trumps remarks in the rose garden on monday, flippant, casual asides he made glibly monday afternoon in the rose guard when he volunteered what turned out to be false information about previous president s, particularly president obama and ways previous president s had interacted with families of soldiers who were killed in action. President made those remarks on monday in rose garden and caused a great uproar. We contacted Michael Beschloss to see if the comments were unprecedented or Something Else was like this in u. S. History to remember at time like this, talking about what President Trump did that upset so many people. In response to query he sent us this letter. He told us about the long history of president s sending letters and making sympathy phone calls and visiting with families of Fallen Soldiers and how profoundly that responsibility has affected president s over the year. But said this handwritten letter from lincoln, what i think is the most eloquent such letter. Most eloquent condolence letter that president has sent. This letter is what lincoln wrote when he learned in 1862 about the death of his friend William Mccullough fighting in the civil war. Wrote this letter to mcculloughs daughter in dark year of 1862 when he and country and his own family were dealing with so much trauma and grief. So much of the power is seeing handwritten form. The words that lincoln wrote are not just historical artifact. Theyre still important as to what we expect of the presidency and understand as moral inheritance as nation. Way michael put it, not only most eloquent example of president ial condolence letter to family of fallen soldier, i find it so beautiful, i think what lincoln has written consoles anyone dealing emotionally with significant loss. This is that letter from lincoln. You can see at top its on stationery, executive mansion and preprinted in washington, comma, date and year. Dear fanny. It is with deep grief that i learn of the death of your kind and brave father. In this sad world of ours, sorrow comes to all and to the young with bitterest agony, it takes them unawares. Older have lrned to ever expect it. Im anxious to aleve some of your distress. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better. Is this not so . And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what i say. The memory of your dear father, instead of an agony will yet be a sad, sweet feeling in your heart. Of a pure and holier sort than you have known before. Then he signs off, please present kind regards to afflicted mother, sincere friend, a. Lincoln. One page. Thats how its done. Right . And every american president since lincoln has the unfortunate reality at some point of being compared with lincoln. No other president will ever be him. But having that document in our history, in public record, as standard of decency and moral generosity from a president , having that in our ethical bank as a country makes it almost impossible to compute what the current news cycle has just revealed, dredged up, about the behavior of the current occupant of the same office that Abraham Lincoln once held. Widow of u. S. Army sergeant received a phone call from the president yesterday about loss of her husband in isis ambush. We learned about the content of that call late last night, what the president actually said to that grieving widow from the Congress Woman who represents the district where Sergeant Johnsons family lives, known the family for years and with the widow when she received the president as call. Spoke to the widow of Sergeant Johnson, maisha. How is she doing . Shes very distraught. We were in the car together, in the limousine, headed to meet the body at the airport. So i heard what he said. Because the phone was on speaker. What did he say . Well, basically he said well i guess he knew what he signed up for. But i guess it still hurts. Thats what he said. President said to her, he knew what he signed up for. He knew what he was signing up for. But when it happens, it hurts anyway. Uhhuh. Almost as if this is a young, young woman, who has two children, who is six months pregnant with a third child. Has just lost her husband. She was just told that he cannot have an open casket funeral. Which gives her all kinds of nightmares, how his body must look, how his face must loochk. T and this is what the president of the United States says to her . After that account from the Congress Woman last night and again this morning, reiterated comments this morning, president was asked if he honestly said that to that grieving widow last night. This was his response. Mr. President , Sergeant Johnson on the phone yesterday. Didnt say what the Congress Woman said. Didnt say it at all. She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said. And id like her to make the statement again because i did not say what she said. I had a very nice conversation with the wife, who sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the Congress Woman said and most people not surprised by that. The proof mr. President . Let her make sher statement again and then youll find out. After the president with arms folded denied that account about this call to this grieving widow, congresswoman wilson said she stood by it. Didnt retract the account. Although the president insisted that he had proof he had not said any of the things that the congresswoman quoted him saying, if youre looking for proof, wasnt just congresswoman listening in on the conversation. That was conversation in which the president was on speaker phone and people who heard his remarks not only the widow and congresswoman but another member of Sergeant Johnsons families who confirms that the congresswomans account is correct. Told Washington Post, President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and me and my husband. Confirmed again to the New York Times tonight. Knew what he was getting into when he signed up. Yes he did state that comment. It is one thing if the president inadvertently spoke in unintentionally callous manner to somebody he should have prepared better to speak to. Thats one thing, its own failure. Another matter when the president then called on that chooses to deride the grieving family of a fallen soldier as liars. Now in the uproar caused by the revelations today, then learned that president had also sometime this summer called father of Army Sergeant killed in afghanistan in june, in middle of the call with the president , chris baldridge, father, says the conversation took unexpected turn when president volunteered in middle of the conversation im going to quote write you a check out of personal account for 25,000. President speaking with grieving father of u. S. Army corporal who was killed, told him he was going to send the father a large personal check, according to the grieving father. Happened in the conversation after the dad said he didnt expect to benefit from the pentagons death benefit for his son. Thought it would go to his wife. Interesting thing that president would promise to personally make a financial contribution to this father. Reportedly a shocking thing that president had offered to send him personally some money. Its all interesting. Unusual. The part thats nauseating is Washington Posts further reporting is that President Trump didnt send the check after he told him he would. Not apparently until day when news of him not sending the check ended up reported in the Washington Post. After hours of dodging post reporters on the story, who had spoken to the father and heard of the president promise and the father saying the president s check never arrived. Hours of trying to check this out with white house and white house not responding or giving explanation what happened with the president s personal financial offer to this grieving father. This evening white house spokeswoman put out statement calling the media disgusting, saying quote the check has been sent. Further reported that what she meant, the check was sent tonight. Once the president s broken promise became national news. Beyond that, appear to have dragged many of the grieving families through it. Only been in office nine months, anybody killed in action since hes been president , relatively recent occurrence, can all expect to be raw and hurt and actively grieving and dealing with logistics in some cases of the death. Knowing the circumstance and fresh grief of the families, what theyre going through right now, makes reporting like this almost impossible for us to understand as americans. Its almost impossible to believe this is real. But quoting from Washington Post tonight. Sergeant brooks, aged 30, killed on august 13th in iraq. His father, evince brooks, has not heard from the white house. President s claim that he had called every military family to lose a son or daughter since hes been president only upset the Brooks Family more. Wanted to set up twitter account to get the president s attention. Said to my daughter, can you teach me to tweet so i can tell the president hes a liar . Hes a damn liar. Nobody wants to live in country when people can credibly call the leader of the country a liar. But somebody whose son died in uniform fighting for United States of america, we dont have many circuits as americans to process this moral disgrace in our leadership. Its hard for us as country to face the loss borne of families of Service Members anyway in normal times. U. S. Armed forces have fought the longest war in u. S. History and other wars alongside, less than 1 of American Families have somebody serving while those wars have been happening and civilian life proceeded as if the wars not happening. Its therefore already hard for us as country to face the sacrifices and losses that these patriotic families have gone through. Done something we civilians will never do. Incurred a debt from this country we dont know how to pay back already. Its hard in normal times but its incomprehensible for us as country sto see these families of all people jerked around, lied to, called liars by the president. Shortly after they died. And so this this just feels like a strange news story to report. It feels surreal. It feels so it feels so unbelievable. This is happening. I want to say though, there is Something Else happening here too. That isnt just a moral decency thing. Its a political tactic. Thats at work here. Not a dumb political tactic. That story is next. It can transform a frog into a prince. But it cant transform your business. For that you need dell technologies. We are transforming jet engines into turbo powered safety inspectors. Dairy cows into living, breathing, data centers. And though it seems like magic, its not. Its people and Technology Working together. Magic cant make Digital Transformation happen. But we can. Whstuff happens. Old shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. Go back to the first week of march this year, march 1st, Washington Post, New York Times, wall street journal, reported that Jeff Sessions had in fact met multiple times with russian officials during the president ial campaign. Even though he repeatedly denied that, even under oath. March 1st. Reports came out about sessions having meetings with russians. March 1st he came out and insisted inaccurate. Never ever met with russians in the campaign. March 2nd, changed his mind, admitted he had taken meetings with russians. Same day, march 2nd, j. D. Gordon and carter page admitted to taking meetings with russian government officials despite earlier denials. That same day New York Times reported that Trumps National security adviser and trumps soninlaw Jared Kushner had taken meetings during the campaign they failed to disclose. All in two days. March 1st and march 2nd this year. White house had previously been giving blanket denials that anybody from campaign or transition had taken any meetings with russians. Just blown out of the water with the reporting. Then march 4th, what . Bright and early. 6 35 in the morning, just found out obama had my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory. Nothing found. Made that remarkable claim before dawn on the fourth day of march after flurry of damning reporting about the Trump Campaign and secret contact with the russians. Once he made that proclamation, everybody was obliged to play sixyearold soccer and run down the field chasing the ball he kicked down there. That became the story of the week. This is a political tactic, not just distraction, its diversion of a difficult line of inquiry. I mean in the first week of march, cascade of reporting that Trump Campaign personnel are meeting with russian officials in the campaign and covering it up. Litany, page and gordon and flynn and sessions, all having to admit it. Bad news cycle for the white house. President s decision about what to do about that is divert that line of inquiry. Dont just Start Talking about Something Else and hope you can change the subject, instead try to harness the energy of the initial damning news story and turn it to something related but different. So president made diversionary statement on different issue vaguely related to question at hand. Effect was to sap the initial story of its punch. To divert it or muddy it up. Once he created that diversionary story line, now depends on if you like to listen to the white house to get your news or not, might still be thinking of the intelligence scandal that broke in washington first week of march as lots of Trump Officials having secret meetings with russians in the campaign or you might think the scandal was obama wiretapping trump tower. Either way sort of seems like same thing. All upset about a scandal. Which scandal again . President obama never wiretapped trump tower. Saying so at that moment made the previous president a factor in the news cycle. Got Obama Administration officials involved in defending the president from outrageous and false allegation. Gave conservative media something to disclaim about and demand the media start covering because it was the real scandal. Its not just distraction, its diversion. Just barely related enough in terms of subject matter, doesnt just challenge people to talk about something new but stands in for real scandal. Muddies real storys story line. Diverts energy from the initial news cycle that was difficult for the white house to deal with. Not just distraction, diversion. Thats political tactic. You can learn it or have it instinctually. Either way, pretty good tactic. Today, reason the country is having our hearts torn to bits over the news of how this president has talked to and about families of Service Members killed overseas is not because the president s interactions with the families of killed Service Members was ever brought up this week, that story line, even questions about that didnt emerge organically on their own. Reason were talking about this is president brought it up without being asked. When the president on monday made initial false claims about president obama not calling families of Service Members killed in action, those comments that caused us to call Michael Beschloss about president s in the past. When he made the comments, he hadnt been asked about calling soldiers families or condolence practices in his white house or others, wasnt asked about president obama. These conversations and nauseating revelations about how President Trump has behaved and spoken towards Service Members families were nothing anybody else brought up. Theyre what he brought up, diverted story to. Original story was, what he was asked about when he brought up this topic, what he diverted from was this. Why havent we heard about the soldiers killed in niger and what do you have to say about that . President didnt answer that question. Why havent we heard anything from you about the soldiers killed in niger. Didnt answer that question. Instead diverted discussion to inflammatory thing thats taken up three days of news, inflammatory false assertions about the ways he contacts families and way other president s have approached that issue. Theres still no answer about why he made no public statements about four u. S. Army soldiers, killed in niger where most americans didnt even know we have sizeable amount of troops. How dangerous, specific Operational Mission they were engaged in when they were lost . Does the president have response to their deaths . When the ambush happened that killed them october 4th, white house said that the president had been briefed on their deaths but no word from him. Original report was three had been killed, then the body of fourth was recovered. Still no word from the president. Two days into the crisis, already starting to be weird that president was making no public remarks about it. Body of another u. S. Soldier has just been discovered by local forces in niger, which brings to four the total number of green berets that were killed on the wednesday in niger. So far theres been no response to this by the president , no tweet from the president , no statement from the president. Press corp. Is already asking the white house. Almost two weeks ago in White House Briefing room. It was strange even two weeks ago that president had made no public response or statement about it. Its 12 days on and still no public response from the president. When he was asked about it on monday in rose garden, he responded with diversion about president obama not calling families of Service Members he heard, or maybe not, i dont know. Even today the white house still will not explain why the president has made no public remarks on the deaths of these soldiers. Not on his own behavior, about president obama, but what happened in niger. Late today politico. Com thoroughly called the question on this matter with remarkable leaked document out of the pentagon or white house. Not sure. Killed october 4th. October 5th, National Security council drafted statement for the president to release about it, acknowledging the deaths, mourning the loss. Decent, noble, simple statement, kind of statements that president s make when these things happen. Drafted for president , circulated and for some reason the president ignored it. Didnt issue the statement written for him and cleared by dod and National Security council. Didnt do it then, still hasnt done it. Why . Nobody knows. And somebody inside the process of writing that statement is mad enough about it they sawed the statement to reporter from politico who was able to report on it today. Still no explanation for the reticence. And apparently dont know how to deal with it. Circulated but never released and not immediately clear why. Spokesman Michael Anton declined to comment. Staffer who wrote the initial statement quote hung up on a politico reporter who called to ask about it. The powers and responsibilities of the presidency are obviously vast. You see how it prematurely ages them right . Hard to know how individual humans get that job done, let alone find energy and focus and compassion within the job to show the kind of grace that Abraham Lincoln showed in condolence letter he sent to his friends daughter in the civil war in 1862 when he was awash in his own grief. But being president , getting elected president , staying president , doesnt just require strength and remarkable personal characteristics, it also requires innate political intelligence or at least instinct. Something about what happened in niger has caused this president apparently instinctually to divert the conversation from what happened to those soldiers, even acknowledging publicly the deaths of those soldiers and what happened to them. He will not talk about it. Why were they underarmed and under armoured in place isis am sfwhu bush. Was it french, was au. S. Private contractors . Was there evacuation plan. If not is it because military didnt expect had them to be in danger . Why was that intelligence wrong if thats the basis . After last soldier was separated and body not located until after the others were found, do we know why . Do we how it is that Sergeant Johnson was separated . Was he initially taken alive . What was the mission . Was it worth it to have him there . What is the u. S. Going to do in response to the deaths . Theres something about what happened in niger that the president has instinctually diverted the conversation from. To the point not even reading statement already written on the matter. Rather have a National Conversation about callousness and mistakes and forgetting to send a check to families of servicemen killed in action, rather talk about that than what happened in niger. That makes me really want to know what happened in niger. Be right back. I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. 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I dont believe ive had any discussion about that act. Any policies or positions of the campaign or Trump Presidency . Im not sure about that. Could have been that in that meeting in my office or at the convention that some comment was made about what trumps positions were. I think thats possible. Not being able to recall what you discussed with him is very different than saying i have not had communications with the russians. Ambassador from russia is russian. First it was i did not have communications with russians. Which was not true. Then it was i never met with any russians to discuss any political campaign. Which may or may not be true. Now its i did not discuss interference in the campaign. That to me is moving the goal post every time. You dont believe that surrogates from the Trump Campaign had communications with the russians, is that what youre saying . I did not and not aware of anybody else that did. I dont believe it happened. And you dont believe it now. Thats what i wanted to ask you. Down that Michael Flynn was a surrogate for the campaign . Could probably have been defined as that. Paul manafort, surrogate for the campaign . For a short time he was chairman of the campaign. Do you believe that Jared Kushner was a surrogate for the campaign . I really dont know whether his role i sort of see theres no clear definition i assume, but surrogate is someone normally speaking on behalf of the candidate. Do you believe donald trump jr. Was a surrogate . . He was his son and he speak. My concern is you were part of the russian facade and went along with it. Im sorry, ive known you for years and sorry youd do that. Hurts me to hear you say you think im part of a facade. Im not part of a facade. Attorney general says hes not part of the facade. Interestingly calls himself a surrogate for the Trump Campaign, acknowledged what he previously denied, during the Trump Campaign he had contacts with russian officials, then insisted that surrogates for the campaign didnt have contacts with russians. Thats like saying, im a penguin, i dont slurpies, i dont know of any penguins that like slurpies. What . Confronted with names of men having russian meetings in the campaign, attorney general shrugged it off. Makes you think he doesnt take seriously the russian government running intel operation against american elections. Weve heard the intelligence and National Security professionals of our country and people who study those issues professionally warn us that campaign and election interference by the russians is not going away, that we can expect more of it in the 2018 election, in the 2020 election. Ill be frank, i dont know that were doing a specific legislative review at this point. You think it would be prudent to do it . We have been warned. I think that is a suggestion. Who me . Something, something, protect the next election after russia attacked the last one . Ill take your suggestion. You can tell by the why that senator questions him doesnt seem satisfied with the response hes getting from attorney general and department of justice about whether russia is doing it again. Joining us now, senator on the Judiciary Committee who questioned the attorney general, i appreciate your time. My pleasure. You were pressuring him about whether or not the department of justice is doing anything to head off future russian interference in elections, did you ask that because you know theyre not working on that or was that news . The way he came back to you today. I was asking that because i found no sign of there being any interest in the department of justice in addressing this problem legislatively. Which is weird because we have had a great number of very public hearings, with a lot of people including Administration Officials, making this very plain warning that theyre coming at us again. And weve had a lot of testimony about the types of things we could do to close up some of our vulnerabilities and it stands out in that context that the department of justice which presumably would be leaving that kind of effort has nobody assigned to it, no plan and attorney general off top of his head doesnt know if theres anything going on legislatively. Seems unusual. Also remarkable moment today where attorney general shrugged, didnt believe that any trump surrogates had any contacts with russians in Trump Campaign. Matter of logic because hes confirming he as trump surrogate had contacts and uncontested reporting about number of other People Associated with the campaign having those contacts. Like five. A lot of them. And yet he says he doesnt think it happened. Whats your take on that . Hard to figure out what he intended. If hes just confused or wants to shut down the subject with as short answer as he can, whether or not its truthful. But align that with failure of the department to take any effort to prevent further interference and repeated stonewall of nonassertions of executive privilege, its awkward to interest on this subject out of the department of justice right now. To that point, one of the issues that i was very interested to see raised today and didnt expect to hear it until it came up was the implication that the department of justice has not been forthcoming with documents, information and cooperation for the various investigations happening into the russian attack. Is it true that the Justice Department has been holding back in terms of requests for information from you, from your committee and from other investigators . Yeah. In my opinion, yes. I think they have provided a few things but we have imnumerable letters some months old gone unanswered and over and over again you see the attorney general and other Administration Officials do this nonassertion assertion of executive privilege. Theres a quit distinct pattern youre supposed to follow with executive privilege and has to end in the president asserting it. And they have never asked the president to assert it on anything and yet they continue to refuse to answer the questions as if he had or as if they were in the sort of study period during which they were, you know, teeing up the analysis of whether to assert it or not but months have gone by. Way past time for that. So, you know, over and over again, whether its the statements that dont seem to add up with what we know the facts to be or the inability, unwillingness or incapacity to advise congress on how to defend our next elections or this nonassertion assertion of executive privilege, its very, very hard screen to penetrate through and i think that the senate has the right to, a lot more answers than were getting. Senator sheldon whitehouse, democrat of rhode island, thank you for your time tonight, sir. Really appreciate you being with us. My pleasure. All right. Stay with us. So this one says. Dealership has Great Customer service. muffled voice . And has great deals . And has. Complimentary donuts. Thats the one cars. Com. Over 5 million expert and user reviews. Whstuff happens. Old shut down cold symptoms fast with maximum strength alka seltzer plus liquid gels. We got tape in the newsroom. Just came in. I think were the first to have access to this. Remarks of former attorney general john brennan. The first public remarks in several months. He took this question from nbcs Andrea Mitchell about the 2016 election. Watch. Do you think that the russians could have had developed the expertise in american politics to have microtargeted areas of wisconsin, michigan and elsewhere . Is it your theory of the case that there was some connection between the campaign and the Russian Operations . Hard for me to believe that the russians as good as they are, sophisticated as they are, were not able to get some americans to cooperate with them, either wittingly or unwittingly. I find it implausible. I find it implausible no americans helped the russians, wittingly or unwittingly. Director brennan revealed hes not been asked to testify by special Counsel Robert Mueller but he said he would be happy to do so if asked but again the top line new that is Andrea Mitchell of nbc news was able to get him to break tonight, cia director during the russian attack on the election says to him it is implausible that the russians were able to do what they did in our election last year without american help. Implausible. Well be right back. [bell rings] so i was at mom and dads and found this. Cds, baseball cards. Your old magic set . And this wrestling ticket. Which you still owe me for. Seriously . 25 i didnt even want to go. Ahhh, your diary. Mom says it is totally natural. 25 is nothing. Abracadabra, bro. The bank of america mobile banking app. The fast, secure and simple way to send money. Do you want clean, stain free dentures . Try polident. The four in one cleaning system kills 99. 99 of odor causing bacteria, cleans where brushing may miss. Helps remove stains and prevent stain build up. Use polident daily. Today, for the First Time Since his confirmation hearing in january, the attorney general Jeff Sessions went back before the same committee that he, well, whatted to face for the confirmation, famously he did not tell the truth during that confirmation hearing during acute questioning from in particular democratic senators. He didnt tell the truth about whether or not he had permly had contacts with russians during the campaign while he was a senior figure in the Trump Campaign. He said he hadnt had the contacts and he had. The senator who nailed hill on that was minnesota senator al franken and al frank season the guest of Lawrence Odonnell on the last word with Lawrence Odonnell. That does it for me. Lawrence is about to begin. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. Thank you for alerting the audience to that because as you alerted us all to this hearing that was coming this morning, that we all watched and al franken had said on this program once he had the time to digest the attorney generals confirmation testimony that it was perjury. Said it was perjury. Here we come back today a