Trump White House; Niger Attack; Aftermath of Hurricane Maria..
LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." U.S. President Donald Trump just can't seem to let go of the controversy surrounding his condolence call to the widow of a fallen soldier. In a tweet late on Thursday, he once again accused the congresswoman of lying about the words he used in that call. It comes just after his chief of staff delivered a highly personal defense of that conversation. John Kelly whose own son died while serving in Afghanistan says that he advised Mr. Trump on what to say in these calls. Mr. Trump has been reaching out to the families of four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Niger two weeks ago. We're now learning a few new details about that ambush, but there are still many unanswered questions. Barbara Starr has the latest.</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Green Berets were leading the 12-men team on a visit to village elders. They had done 29 patrols over the last six months with no problems. Team members had gone back to their vehicles and they walked into an ambush.</s>STEVE WARREN, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: A firefight is unlike any other human endeavor. It's confusing, it's loud, it's terrifying. There's blood, screams, danger all around.</s>STARR (voice-over): A military investigation in underway. But what is known is disturbing. The troops had been told it was unlikely there would be opposition in the area. Now, the U.S. believes it was ISIS fighters with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that attacked. The Americans had their rifles. Thirty minutes later, French jets flew over the battlefield trying to scare off the ISIS fighters. They had no authority to fire. It was close to an hour before French military helicopters and a U.S. contractor aircraft came in to evacuate the dead and the wounded amid the battle confusion.</s>MARK HETLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Did they know what was going on in the area? Were they sharing it with the right people? Did the African countries know something that the U.S. advisers did not know and they didn't share?</s>STARR (voice-over): Tough questions now face the Pentagon and the president. What happened during the firefight? What does the White House know? And especially, how did Sergeant La David Johnson get separated from his fellow soldiers? When the evacuation aircraft took off, they were one man sort.</s>JOHN MATTIS, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The U.S. military does not leave its troops behind and I would just ask that you not question the action of the troops who were caught in the firefight and question whether or not they did everything they could in order to bring everyone out at once.</s>LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Barbara Starr reporting. Let's return to the controversy around President Trump's condolence phone call. Joe Johns joins us live from Washington. Joe, you know, it was this very emotional moment and extraordinary moment that Chief of Staff John Kelly talking about the genesis of that disputed phone call.</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That is absolutely right and your heart goes out to him. He himself a gold star father. This was the kind of thing that he would seem like the very correct messenger to come to the briefing room and talk about his personal experiences, very personal experience. Meanwhile, I think it is also important to say that this is the kind of issue that White House would very much like to get passed, this issue of a fallen soldier, his widow, and the president's condolence call, but the president revved this issue up himself on Twitter just last night and now certainly he's gotten his chief of staff involved and trying to correct the message as well.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): President Trump refusing to put his war of words with Congresswoman Frederica Wilson to rest, in a late-night tweet calling her "wacky" and insisting yet again that she lied about his call to the widow of Sergeant Lad David Johnson. This despite the fact that hours earlier, the president's chief of staff essentially confirmed the congresswoman's account.</s>REP. FREDERICA WILSON (D), FLORIDA: He said to the wife, "Well, I guess he knew what he was getting into."</s>JOHN KELLY, WHTIE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: And in his way, he tried to express that opinion that he's a brave man, a fallen hero. He knew what he was getting himself into, because he enlisted.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): In a powerful defense of his boss, Kelly explains the message that the president meant to convey was similar to words used by Marine General Joseph Dunford in 2010 when Kelly's son died.</s>KELLY: He said, "Kell, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do when he was killed. He knew what he was getting into by joining that one percent. He knew what the possibilities were, because we're at war. When he died he was surrounded by the best men on this earth, his friends." That's what the president tried to say to four families the other day.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): Kelly lamenting that the deaths of American soldiers are being politicized while delving into politics themselves and ignoring the president's role in the controversy.</s>KELLY: It stuns me that a member of congress would have listened in on that conversation. Absolutely stuns me. And I thought at least that was sacred.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): For Wilson, this was personal. The congresswoman was riding with Johnson's widow to pick up her husband's casket when the president reached out. The call was on speaker phone so the family could hear. Wilson has known the Johnson family for decades. Sergeant Johnson and his brothers taking part in her Miami mentoring program. Kelly also took a shot at the congresswoman over a 2015 speech at the naming ceremony for new FBI building in Miami, dedicated to two fallen agents.</s>KELLY: And in the long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise, stood up there and all of that, and talked about how she was instrumental in getting the funding for that building. Even for someone that is that empty a barrel, we were stunned.</s>JOHNS (voice-over): But the Miami Herald reports that Kelly got his facts wrong and that Washington approved the money before Wilson was even in congress, Wilson telling the newspaper, "He shouldn't be able to say that. That is terrible. This has become totally persona." This as new video gives rare insight into another condolence call President Trump made to a Gold Star widow whose husband was killed in April.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (voice-over): I am so sorry to hear about the whole situation. What a horrible thing, except that he's an unbelievable hero. And you know all of the people that served with him are saying how incredible he was, and just an amazing, amazing guy. And I just wanted to call and tell you he's a great hero.</s>JOHNS: Very touching call there and very differently received than the call to Sergeant Johnson's widow. Kristie?</s>LU STOUT: Absolutely. Joe, we know that U.S. President Trump is again up and tweeting this morning. He's putting the focus on tax reform. What are his latest thoughts on that?</s>JOHNS: Well, we know from last night, the United States senate passed the budget which means Republicans moved one step closer to passing that top priority of tax reform, the president's tax plan. The president tweeted about that as you say last night, just a little while ago. The budget passed last night 51-49, zero Democrat votes with Rand Paul, senator from Kentucky, Republican, and president says he is going to vote for tax cuts when time comes. He indicates this now allows for the passage of large scale tax cuts which will be, he says, the biggest in the history of our country. That last part, of course, has been disputed by some of the tax experts. Nonetheless, it is a big deal for Republicans and that seems to be overshadowed by this issue of the president's condolence call which is certainly a problem for the administration.</s>LU STOUT: Yes. Joe Johns reporting live for us from the White House. Thank you. The U.S. Virgin Island of Saint John is still completely without power more than one month after two brutal category five hurricanes hit. Here is the scene of the almost total devastation there. Hurricane Irma ripped through the island in September, and then recovery efforts have dealt a heavy blow by Hurricane Maria. President Trump says his administration deserves a 10 out of 10 for the way it dealt with Hurricane Maria, but many in Puerto Rico would probably disagree since 80 percent of the island is still without power. ____ reports. Bill Weir reports.</s>BILL WEIR, CNN JOURNALIST AND ANCHOR (voice-over): It is the most popolar music video ever. Luis Fonsi's and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" has been viewed on YouTube over four billion times. (on camera): But most of that massive audience probably didn't realize the video was shot in one of the most notorious neighborhoods in all of Puerto Rico. Welcome to La Perla. For years, this place was written off as being drug and gang-infested. Community organizers fought against that stigma. Hadn't been a murder here in six years. And then came "Despacito" and suddenly this rough side of town was a tourist destination and the economy started to blow up. People felt good about themselves. But then came Maria. Now you've got an outbreak of conjunctivitis among the children. The clinic is without power. There is no roof on the school. And there is no hope that help is coming anytime soon. (voice-over): Tourists wanted to come here, Ashita (ph) tells me. They came from Africa, China, South America. But after Maria, nobody comes. It's like a ghost town. (on camera): So the doctors will see people in the dark here? (voice-over): Dr. Rosita (ph) shows me around the powerless hospital where cardiograms and electronic medical records are worthless. (on camera): Is it true that Luis Fonsi donated a generator?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five.</s>WEIR (on camera): Five generators. (voice-over): They are trying to get it installed, but they need to go to the mayor's office and fill out paperwork, she tells me. (on camera): You need permission? Oh, my gosh. (voice-over): The excited scramble for a single bag of ice is proof that portable water and power are still elusive luxuries over a month after Maria. Which puts enormous pressure on the men paid to electrify Puerto Rico. (on camera): There are</s>ANDREW TECHMANSKI, CEO, WHITEFISH ENERGY HOLDINGS: We've been around for a few years. And, you know, we specialize in difficult and mountainous terrain projects. So, all I can say is we took the call and we're here.</s>WEIR (on camera): They called you?</s>TECHMANSKI: We called each other.</s>WEIR (voice-over): He struck a deal with Prepa (ph), the publicly-owned utility notorious for high prices, rolling blackouts, and $9 billion debt. (on camera): Is it a risk for you as a businessman to take this gig?</s>TECHMANSKI: It's a risk. It's a risk. But, you know, when you come down here and you see what I've seen and you have that skill set that can have an immediate impact on the people here, it becomes a mission. So, we --</s>WEIR (on camera): It's not just a job?</s>TECHMANSKI: It's not a job. No, it became a mission.</s>WEIR (on camera): How long before juice is flow through these?</s>TECHMANSKI: It's a good question. And we hope to have this line back up in the next three to four days.</s>WEIR (on camera): The governor is promising 95 percent power back by Christmas?</s>TECHMANSKI: Yes.</s>WEIR (on camera): Is that reasonable? Is that a fantasy?</s>TECHMANSKI: It's going to take a lot of people to reach that deadline.</s>WEIR (on camera): A lot more people.</s>TECHMANSKI: A lot more than we have here today.</s>WEIR (on camera): That we have here today?</s>TECHMANSKI: Yes.</s>WEIR (voice-over): Whitefish says they have 300 linemen on the island with another 700 on the way, while they wait for a hundred bucket trucks and bulldozers still stuck in Florida ports.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.</s>WEIR (on camera): You're welcome. (voice-over): So it is anyone's guess as to when they will have the lights back on in La Perla. Until then, there is little to do but take care of each other. The kids with no school. Elderly with no hospital. And they clean up just in case the tourists ever decide to come back.</s>WEIR: Whitefish Energy is not the only power company working on this problem. There was another multi-million dollar contract headed out to a much more established company yesterday. But Senator Marco Rubio says the Army Corps of Engineers is still trying to come up with the plan to fix the power grid in Puerto Rico more than a month out. Back to you.</s>LU STOUT: Bill Weir. Now, a desperate situation in Venezuela where this derelict psychiatric hospital has become a virtual prison for its patients.