Senate republicans finally got something done. They should thank steve bannon. And the National Conversation on Sexual Harassment and assault. We all need to be part of the solution. Women of the senate are speaking out. This is mtp daily and it starts right now. And good evening. Im Steve Kornacki in new york in for chuck todd. Welcome to mtp daily. We just got new information in the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff about the ambush in niger that killed four American Service members and will get to those highlights and details in just a moment. We begin tonight, though, with three Big Questions stemming from this incident. Number one what are the political consequences of this deadly ambush . Number two what are the consequences stemming from the president s handling of the incident, especially how he has handled the dispute with a grieving military family . And number three what if there arent any political consequences . Today we heard from myeshia johnson, whose family has been dragged into an ugly confrontation with President Trump that continues to escalate. She is the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson who was laid to rest this weekend after he was killed in that ambush in niger on a mission we still know little about. In interview johnson was asked about the president s claim that her congresswoman, totally fwrab cra fabricated what was said during a phone call that angered her family. The president said the president was lying about the phone call. Whatever ms. Wilson said was not fabricated. What she said was 100 correct. That the president said he knew what he signed up for. But it hurts anyways. And i was it made me cry, because i was very angry at, the tone of his voice and how he said he couldnt remember my husbands name. I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husbands name. Now, up until this point, the president has gone after the widows congresswoman, Frederica Wilson of florida, but not the widow herself. However, shortly after that interview aired this morning, he disputed the widows account as well insisting, i had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning without hesitation. On this issue the president and his team have gone into a familiar mode of attack. He suggested past president s did not make these kinds of condolence phone calls when, in fact, they did. He has said he has proof the congresswoman and widows account is wrong but hasnt provided that prove and even called congresswoman wilson wacky. His chief of staff called her an empty barrel. Meanwhile, senator john mccain is leading an effort to do just that, question our military leaders. Hes criticized the administration for withholding information on the niger ambush and is far from the only senator, democrat or republican, whos looking for answers now. And one of the fights im having right now with the administration is the Armed Services committee is not getting enough information. Uhhuh. And they deserve it, because we represent their families, too. I didnt know there was 1,000 troops in niger. John mccain is right to tell the military, because this is an endless war without boundaries, no limitation on time and geography, you have to tell us more and hes right to say that. And senator graham didnt know we had 1,000 troops in niger. Did you . No, i did not. Some stories that said our soldiers are actually engaged in the battle that actually pursued them. Others that said, no, they actually attacked us. We have to find out what happened. Have a hearing and hold accountable anybody who may have been responsible for sending these able young men on to a mission that led to disaster. And pushing back on some of that criticism, acknowledging he needs to do more to answer Congress Questions about this incident. Dunford explained u. S. Troops were on a Reconnaissance Mission with nigerians fors as part of a Broader Mission about violent extremism and got ambushed. On the 4th of october u. S. And nigerian soldiers ban to move back south. They came under attack from approximately 50 enemy using rapped fire and grenades. During the firefight two u. S. Soldiers were wounded and evacuated by french air. Two were killed and evacuated on the evening of 4 october and at that time Sergeant La David Johnson was still missing. 6 october sergeant johnsons body was found and subsequently evacuated. We begin tonight with pentagon corners hans nichols. What do we know as a result of the briefing we did not know before . Just how long the firefight lasted. 1e6 several hours, 11 00 a. M. In the evening. It wasnt until two hours after the firefight began you had french air support show up on the scene. We know it wasnt until later in the afternoon that you had the evacuation of the american casualties. So more on the timeline, we want more, and we have a little sense what the broader role is. The why. Why u. S. Forces are in africa. We got new numbers, more official numbers. Over 6,000 u. S. Troops throughout all of africa now. A sense what theyre role sand how they want to fight and challenge isis not just isis is but where theyre going to be and thats the importance building partners. They were clear on working with local forces to combat these elements. Frankly, the u. S. Cant do it entirely on its own. We got a bit of an articulation of the why. Got a little bit more on the ticktock. We dont have the a precise sense just when those bodies were found and when those casualties were evacuated. It was evening. And, also, how the firefight was disbursed. Was it u. S. Forces that brought them out just on the ground or the french play some sort of role . Again, the big question on this, how did something where it turned out they thought contact was unlikely how did that turn into a firefight in central africa, in niger . That is the big question. Was it an intelligence failure . What were the troops doing beforehand . We know they overnighted in the region and coming back to the base in the morning. Leaving, heading back to their outpost leaving that village is when they were ambushed. Guys . Hans nichols at the pentagon. Thanks for that. Joined now by republican congressmanen Francis Rooney of florida. Congressman, thank you for joining us. Stay on this subject first about this ambush, about the new information were learning now. Some of your colleagues there on capitol hill, some of your republican colleagues there on capitol hill, say the administration has not been forthcoming enough when it comes to providing information on this ambush. Do you share that view . Well, we all know were fighting a global pestilence of ices and al qaeda and you said on your show we need to take the fight to them, where they are and where theyre going to be. Given the number of troops in africa and multitude of this attack the other day its uncome fwoent know more what in the nonclassified axdss were taking around the worlz. Armed services, Intel Committee including the Foreign Affairs committee. Are you satisfied in terms of these inquiries youre talking about, potential inquiries, are you satisfied the administration is committed to transparency here . Oh, sure. I think the administration will be committed to transparency. These green berets had evidently been there some time, conducted many sorties and somehow or another this one went sideways in a terrible, horrible way. Let me ask you, too, about the president s response to the death of sergeant johnson. Today, just hours ago this morning, he chose to go on twitter and telled world, everybody sees this message, to dispute the story that sergeant johnsons widow was telling. Do you think thats a president ial action on his part . Well, i know im sure it was a terribly emotional situation for the president to have to call the family of this poor young man whose life was taken from him. If i were him and just heard general kelly tell me about his son and i would probably use some of the words general kelly said, too. But in terms specifically of what general kelly was talking about was the congresswoman from florida. The congresswoman from florida, Frederica Wilson, taking her role in his. This was a direct, specific response from the president of the United States, to a widow. A widow of the fallen soldier. We talk all the time with this president , we have never seen this before. I cant think of an example of a president of the United States directly con testing the version of events told by a grieving Family Member of a fallen soldier. Do you consider that an acceptable thing for him to be doing . Seems to be a difference of opinion of the tonality of the deliverance of the words delivered. I cant tell what you that was. The president said he was shocked there was criticism. Hes pretty irritated there was criticism over using words general kelly had suggested. Right. Ill try one more time. Its out there today. A lot of people saying, the thing to do as president of the United States and a Family Member, a widow, any direct Family Member of a fallen family has criticism of you, critical about your policy, anything, not to say anything. Do you share that view or think, no, this is fair game. I think its appropriate and necessary to offer condolences to this family who had such a grievous loss. If there was a misunderstanding it might not be a bad idea to continue to make sure these people realize that the government of the United States shares their pain and thanks this young man for his service to his country. Overall, how would you assess his response now . Its been several weeks since this attack. Weve had the questions here on capitol hill about the administration and whether theyre being forth if coming. Had the president s direct handling of the issue with the widow. How would you assess this administrations response to this tragedy . Fairly dreblt communication and the president demonstrated hes a direct communicator. Probably everyone in your studio would have a difference opinion what words to use in a very emotional, tragic situation like this. All right. Congressman Francis Rooney, republican from florida. Thank you for the time. Appreciate that. Lets bring in tonights panel. Kaitlyn huey burns, National Political reporter and ms. Mex wal for sirius xm and former adviser to the Clinton Campaign and john potgoreit, commentator of a magazine. John, start with you. That exchange i just had with the congressman i think weve seen versions of this going back to candidate donald trump. He says or does something that puts allies, members of the Republican Party, political allies of his, in a very difficult position. Remember, general kelly in that briefing in the White House Press room said, he told the president not to make the phone calls, because theres nothing you can say that will, that people will want to hear, and that its an incredibly difficult moment and there is very little condolence you can offer, and the president decided to do it anyway, and so he gave him some words to speak. Clearly general kelly was correct. The president s decision to make that phone call was a terrible blunder. It hurt mrs. Johnsons feelings. It created an eightday firestorm, but the president is exacerbating this and putting guys like congressman rooney in the position of having to condemn the leader of their own party, and that is a selfinflicted wound we can discuss why he did it, whats wrong with him, why he cant just say he was sorry, repeat what george w. Bush said to cindy sheehan. In 2005. Said part of my duty as president is to meet those who have lost a loved one. I sympathize with mrs. Sheehan. She was calling him hitler, a murderer and a horror show, and he said, im not going to attack mrs. Sheehan. Camped out at the edge of his ranch in texas. Kaitlyn, the other piece of this, the congressman gave him three, four opportunities. Wouldnt condemn what donald trump said this morning. The idea of donald trump going after this widow in a public way. We hraised the question at the top. Are there political consequences . An action i dont think weve seen in modern times as a president and gave an opportunity to an ally and wouldnt take it. Interesting, republicans are tied to this president , republicans who are facing reelection next year as this congressman is, and in the middle of a tax reform debate. Trying to get that legislation through. Maybe we can talk about political consequences after they go through that, if theyre able to do so, but during all of these controversies that weve seen, you can find kind of a constituency for the controversy that donald trump gins up, right . Nfl a good example. Even if you dont agree with his strategy you could find a group of people this resonated with. With this issue,s hard to find a constituency support ive of the way donald trump is handling this. So it raises the question, what are the political consequences . Im not sure that there are any at this point. And i think that the questions, though, i cant think of a constituency specifically on this. This is, boy, not tough enough on the families of fallen soldiers, but can you look at the political spectrum and say, heres the voters, the group of people who have stayed with donald trump and will they abandon them now . I dont think there is a constituency in that 35 or so that will leave donald trump no matter what happens. Even if they colluded with russia, those people will still stick with donald trump even with evidence. This is a pattern. Hes attacking a black congresswoman. A widow who is of an africanamerican family. Pandering to that constituency which likes him to hit back not just all the time when somebody attacks him but particularly when it comes to black people and people of color, like we saw with the mayor of san juan, puerto rico. So theres a pattern here. Its not something random. Its not a coincidence that hes hitting back very hard in a circumstance when the two women involved happen to be black women. Can i just say that, one of the things weve discovered over the last year, donald trump has a floor under him. 35 and 40 support looks like. But hes got a floor. He can also build a ceiling on the top of that floor, thats half a a centimeter thick. A base is supposed to be something you build out from, and expand your support outward from. And if hes putting the ceiling on top of the floor by offending every possible person who is not part of that, i will never leave you base, he is not giving himself any room to maneuver or his party any room to maneuver. I hear that and one thing i think about, we use that determine base in politics. The ones with you when everything hits the fan. Watergate happens, its whos still with nixon . You know . Iran contra happens, reagan, whos still with reagan. The difference with trump with, all of that stuff happened during theexactly. I feel the folks still with him on election day, all the base and just barely enough but were enough to get him elected president. Most of these controversies been new. Remember during the course of campaign feuded with a gold star family after the convention. What im looking at is, not only his base of supporters but what republicans in congress are doing. Facing a situation they are going to be the one the held accountable for a lack of perceived progress. You can argue theyre on the ballot, trump as well, of course. You listen to the congressman you just talked to and we all talk to republicans on the hill and elsewhere, its very difficult to see how this president is able to be held accountable by them, because they are intertwined in such a way. Not only on legislation, but on the same voters, too. Their voters. I feel and maybe saw it in the interview. I feel in general, a lot of republicans are politically, they feel paralyzed, as kaitlyn says, for every controversies there a prez dent. Point back to what he says about john mccain two weeks into his campaign. This guys no war hero. And here he is in a fight with the family of a fallen soldier. I think from a republican congressmans standpoint there may be a question, that, i dont know my base as well as i thought. Saw it with the access hollywood tape. Jauchlt moment, plenty of republicans i wont defend donald trump. Not support donald trump, but then eventually came around to support him again. So essentially nothing he can do thats going to lead them to disavow their support of donald trump. Unless they have some moral courage. This is a possibly a moment they should. I cant imagine a situation where youre attacking a widow, continually. I mean, tweeting directly about the widow and basically saying, calling her a liar . I cant imagine something worse than that. Again, were talking about donald trump, on tape talking about groping women and who attacked the khan family last summer. I think theres plenty of precedent but it will take republicans with moral courage in this moment. And really unless they do, well be in this pattern every week. Feels to me, though, like, look. Not for the first time. Probably not for the last time, were left sitting here saying no other president has done x. Right. He just did it. It would be shocking in any other context except for the fact donald trump has done this so many times since he came down that escalator more than two years ago. Thank you all. Sticking around. Much more later. Coming up, will republicans money trouble cost them control of house . Or will democrats begin paying the price in 2018 . Because their voters dont get their message. Sergeant schumann here, first sergeant. You never told me you were a hero. Im not a hero. You all right . No, im not all right. Dont spare me the details. I can take anything but quiet. Thank you for looking after my son. Were brothers. We look after each other. Thank you for your service. Rated r. Remember that accident i got in with the pole, and i had to make a claim and all that . Is that whole thing still dragging on . No, i took some pics with the app and. Filed a claim, but. You know how they send you money to cover repairs and. They took forever to pay you,