WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Now to our other top story, the conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is operating in the Middle East.

The aircraft carrier has been at sea since last November, which is beyond the normal six-month deployment.

Reports from sailors and their families describe appalling conditions, a lack of food and hygiene products, and declining mental health.

White House correspondent Liz Landers joins me now to break this down.

So, Liz, President Trump was asked about this, and he spoke about this today, and seemed almost dismissive of any of the concerns raised by family members about what's going on, on that ship.

What happened?

LIZ LANDERS: William, he was asked about this while he was on his way to New York earlier this afternoon for a law enforcement event, and a reporter asked about the conditions on the ship there, and this was his response on the tarmac here in Washington.

QUESTION: Family members of U.S.

service members are concerned about the conditions on board the USS Lincoln.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: Well, no, that ship is moving.

No, they're not.

That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship.

QUESTION: Have the deployments gone on too long?

(CROSSTALK) DONALD TRUMP: No, no, no, not nearly long enough.

Thank you, everybody.

LIZ LANDERS: This was the first time we have heard President Trump react to these stories, which have really popped up and dominated the headlines in the last few days, William.

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, was also asked about this and was also rather dismissive of these claims when he was on an official trip yesterday in Panama.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S.

Defense Secretary: Completely misrepresented.

Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.

Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.

LIZ LANDERS: I will add that Secretary Hegseth posted a few hours ago on social media praising the American troops, including those on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

But, as you can imagine, William, there has been swift backlash to this, especially from lawmakers here in Washington reacting to the news.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote to Hegseth and the acting Navy secretary laying out some of his concerns, writing, in part -- quote -- "There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages en route to the ship to be lost in transit for months."

Blumenthal asked the military leadership in particular to explain what rotations were anticipated for this carrier strike group and other questions about how the military is assessing the mental health and readiness of the crew.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, I mean, given all of these complaints that have surfaced, this seemed a fairly extraordinary response from the president.

I mean, do we have a sense as to what elicited that?

LIZ LANDERS: Well, we have seen several news outlets, in particular, military-focused news outlets, report on this in the last few days.

Military Times spoke with the wife of a Navy shipman on the USS Lincoln who tried to go overboard recently.

And this woman also described a separate incident of other shipmen attempting to jump overboard, but were stopped by other sailors.

Additionally, Stars and Stripes, another military publication, reported that family members of the sailors of the USS Lincoln pressed military leadership about the mental health concerns that they were hearing from their family members in a town hall recently in San Diego.

The publication says that one spouse told military leadership in this town hall that her husband didn't want to wake up anymore, and said that the military officials did not directly address those concerns, but said that there was mental health support and doctors on board those ships.

Now, the acting secretary of the Navy, Hung Cao, wrote in a statement this afternoon in part -- quote -- "Sailors and Marines are expected to dig deep, and they always do.

A leader's responsibility is to take care of their people the best they can while balancing mission requirements.

During this deployment, we have seen both.

The job is getting done, and our leaders are taking care of their people."

I will also say, William, that Cao did acknowledge in that statement that there have been several mental health cases that were treated with no loss of life.

And he also did acknowledge that there have been shortages of fresh food on that boat.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: I mean, on that last point, though, this is a modern American military, extremely well-funded.

How is it that they are having trouble getting supplies to an aircraft carrier?

LIZ LANDERS: Well, one of our colleagues spoke earlier today with the former chief of Naval operations Admiral Gary Roughead, who said that the logistics involved in resupplying the ships in the Middle East right now is extremely challenging because the ports that the U.S.

typically would rely on for restocking and just going back on land for a period of time are not available because of the Iranian stranglehold in that area.

Listen to what he said.

ADM.

GARY ROUGHEAD (RET.

), Former Chief of U.S.

Naval Operations: For decades, we have had a logistics model in the Middle East that allowed our ships to be supplied and replenished and indeed even repaired in the ports on the Gulf, whether it was Jebel Ali for the larger ships or Bahrain.

And that has gone away.

I think it was assumed that we would be able to control the Gulf and the areas around it and the ports.

And that has proven not to be the case.

LIZ LANDERS: Roughead also explained that the Navy tries to limit these deployments on these carriers to six months.

And this is something that they have found over the years that anything longer weighs on the attitudes of the service members and also their families, understandably.

He said that there have been many times in the past where tours were extended past six months, like during the Iraq War.

But he said that what makes the situation with the Abraham Lincoln different is that, in the past cases, the Navy has had the logistical infrastructure to be able to support them over time there, which is something they're obviously lacking right now, William.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Liz Landers, thank you so much.

LIZ LANDERS: Of course.