McCain says Trump is not being forthcoming about Niger

Sen. John McCain is demanding more information on the ambush in Niger that killed four U.S. soldiers, saying the Trump administration is not being forthright.

When asked whether the Trump administration was being up front about the ambush in southwest Niger on Oct. 4, McCain issued a blunt “no” on Wednesday.

McCain, the chairman of the Senate’s Armed Forces Committee, which has oversight of the military, said, “We deserve to have all the information," according to CNN.

The Department of Defense has launched an investigation after Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee questioned the administration.

“I think the administration has to be more clear about our role in Niger and our role in Africa and other parts of the globe,” Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed said Tuesday.

“They have to connect it to a strategy. They should do that. I think the inattention to this issue is not acceptable.”

Army Sgt. La David Johnson, along with Green Beret Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Sgt. Bryan Black, and Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, were members of a special forces unit helping and training Nigeriens in the fight against the region's terror groups.

They responded to reports of a raid in southwest Niger on Oct. 4 only to be ambushed by a group tied to the Islamic State.

The attack also left four soldiers from Niger dead and two other American soldiers wounded.

Trump, who took nearly two weeks to acknowledge the death of the U.S. soldiers, was criticized for calling La David Johnson’s pregnant widow on Tuesday and saying “he knew what he was signing up for.”

Johnson’s mother slammed Trump for disrespecting her family.