Gold Star: The mother of an Army Green Beret killed in Niger says President Trump was disrespectful during his phone call to the family while they were driving to meet the body coming home to the states.

Trump told the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of four Americans killed Oct. 4,  that her husband “knew what he signed up for,” and he referred to the dead soldier only as “your guy,” according to Sergeant Johnson’s mother and Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson of Florida, who both listened to the call.

Trump retorted that Wilson’s version was “fabricated” and he never said that. He didn’t bite back at the mother.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “I think it, frankly, is a disgrace of the media to try to portray an act of kindness like that and that gesture, and try to make it into something that it isn’t.”

Trump opened the fight this week when he claimed he has done more to contact families of the dead than previous presidents. At the time, he had not sent letters or called the families of four Greet Berets killed two weeks earlier.

Back in June, President Trump promised the father of a dead soldier not named in his son’s survivor benefit that he would personally give the man $25,000. He never did, until the Washington Post reported the story yesterday and the president dashed off a check.

In a familiar speech, White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told CNN, “It’s disgusting that the media is taking something that should be recognized as a generous and sincere gesture, made privately by the President, and using it to advance the media’s biased agenda.”

It’s Genetic: The Food and Drug Administration has approved the second in a new class of genetic treatments that use a patient’s own immune cells to kill cancer. The new regimen called, Yescarta, made by Kite Pharma, was approved for adults with aggressive forms of a blood cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and who have undergone two failed courses of chemotherapy. The treatment turns the patient’s own cells into what’s called “a living drug.”

Money, Money: The Dow Jones closed above 23,000 for the first time yesterday. The market is up partly on corporate hopes for tax reform and lower rates. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said yesterday that, “To the extent we get the tax deal done, the stock market will go up higher. But there’s no question in my mind that if we don’t get it done you’re going to see a reversal of a significant amount of these gains.”

Nation: After a daylong manhunt, police captured a man believed to have shot five co-workers in Maryland, killing three of them, then driving to Maryland where he shot another man he knew. Radee Labeeb Prince, 37, shot five employees at Advanced Granite Solutions, in Edgewood, Md., northeast of Baltimore, police said. They said the two survivors were hospitalized in critical condition.

Abuse: Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney says she was molested by the USA Gymnastics team doctor from the age of 13 until she left the sport.  She won both a Gold and a Silver Olympic medals.

Maroney said team doctor Larry Nassar gave her special “treatments” that he claimed he had been giving female gymnasts for the years. She posted a statement on Twitter to say sexual abuse is not limited to Hollywood.

Nassar awaits sentencing for possession of child pornography and also is in line to be tried on  charges of criminal sexual abuse. At least 125 women have sued him alleging abuse.

The Boys of Autumn: Coming back from two games down against the Houston Astros, the New York Yankees won their third game in a row yesterday by a score of 5-0, putting them only one win away from the American League berth in the World Series.

The Yankees have two games in Houston to pull off a miracle.

In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers are up 3-0, looking like they are going to crush Chicago’s hopes for a second World Series in a row, but hope still springs in Wrigleyville.

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