While there’s no serious question that Donald Trump told the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson that “he knew what he signed up for,” there are a lot of questions remaining about the attack in which Johnson and three other soldiers were killed. What information lapse allowed their team to be ambushed in unarmored pickup trucks without air support? Why was Johnson’s body not recovered for two days after the attack? What exactly is the U.S. mission in Niger, anyway? Rachel Maddow has raised further questions about whether Trump’s addition of Niger’s neighbor Chad to his travel ban, which immediately preceded a decision by Chad to withdraw troops from Niger, might have contributed to American vulnerability to ambush.
The Department of Defense has reportedly launched an investigation into the events in Niger, and it’s entirely possible that information being reported as fact now will ultimately be contradicted. Defense Secretary James Mattis has defended the initial response, saying that "The US military does not leave our troops behind, and I would just ask you not question the actions 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.” But:
Three senior US defense officials told CNN on Wednesday that Mattis is dismayed at the lack of detailed information he has received about the attack, but there is no indication he is trying to unduly hurry the investigation being carried out by Africa Command, according to all three officials -- all of whom are in a position to have knowledge of how Mattis views the situation.
In response to Sen. John McCain raising questions about the ambush and whether he’s getting full information about it, national security adviser H.R. McMaster said “if Sen. McCain says we need to do a better job communicating with him ... we're going to do it.” We’ll see—and we know that this is unlikely to get the kind of investigative attention from congressional Republicans that Benghazi did.
One thing we do know: Trump was at his golf course five times between when the soldiers were killed and the first time he spoke publicly about the attack.