good morning. welcome to your "new day." we begin with breaking news. president trump's national security adviser, michael flynn, resigning. he says he misled the white house about his communications with russia before the president took office. the big question is, who knew? who knew what flynn was doing with russia? the roots could go very deep. >> and then late last month flynn may have been compromised last month andil blackma blackmail. the major shake-up on day 26 of the trump administration.

joe johns is live at the white house. what you have learned? >> good morning, kellyanne -- sorry, alisyn, good morning, alisyn. kellyanne conway said this morning that michael flynn flatly misled the vice president on this issue and he resigned, she says, because he determined that staying on was unsustainable, but there's still a lot of questions ahead. president trump's embattled national security adviser, michael flynn, stepping down after misleading mike pence and others about his conversations with the russian ambassador to the united states. an official telling cnn the justice department warned the white house last month that flynn discussed sanctions with the russian ambassador in december before trump was sworn in despite repeated denials, a

move that could have broken the law. acting attorney general sally yates informed the trump administration prior to being fired that general flynn was vulnerable to potential blackmail. and flynn asserted he briefed the white house with incomplete information and falling short of admitting he lied, and denying the topics of conversations were not of sanctions. >> it was as they described it, a main topic of the discussion. it was not something that maybe they threw out at the end. >> reporter: kellyanne conway said the president supported flynn. >> flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president. >> reporter: an hour later from the white house press secretary, the president was evaluating the

situation. refusing to answer questions about his controversial adviser. we still don't know what the president knew and when he knew it. in a statement a democrat adam schiff of accusing the president of not being forthcoming, and whether he was acting on the instructions of the president or any other officials or with their knowledge. democrats now calling for an immediate classified briefing into the situation writing we in congress need to know who authorized his actions and permitted him and continued to let him have access to our most sensitive national security information despite knowing these risks. there will be attempts to get answers from the president today. he was asked on air force one on friday about developments in the michael flynn case. take a look to what he had to say. >> i don't know about it.

i have not seen it. what report is that? i have not -- i have not seen that and i will look at that. >> the white house saying this morning it's just not clear if the president was briefed on the issue with michael flynn before he took office. i did ask kellyanne conway about this this morning and she did not answer. >> alisyn and chris. she's making the rounds on morning television and they seem to be trying to get on message and away from the facts. what was going on behind the scenes in the white house in the hours leading up to flynn's resignation. more reports of turmoil among president trump's senior staff. dana bash is live in washington with more. >> i think we should pick it up where joe johns just left off, the question of whether or not it's over with regard to general flynn, and the answer couldn't

possibly be yes, chris. first and foremost because of a question about whether the president was either in the dark about a very important and now we know consequential report from the "washington post," or whether he knew about the report and misled the press. by the look on his face, it looked like maybe he did not know what was going on, and the question is why? that leads to the next question, chris, which is the way the structure and the information and the communication is behind the scenes and inside the white house. the questions about michael flynn are one thing and then there's the whole question of just the atmospherics. i am told by multiple sources that the environment among many aides they feel is frankly toxic

because there's concern every day whether there could be a leak that could get a particular aide in trouble, that the person next to them or around them is potentially out to get them, and so this is certainly not the greatest environment to be in when you are trying to run the united states government or participate in the running. one thing that i am told, and we have been reporting since before the inauguration about the sort of power centers inside the white house that steve bannon, the president's adviser, and the chief of staff, reince priebus, are working closely together and are working well together. i am told bannon considers priebus a partner and they have a good working alliance. >> very interesting to hear what is going on inside from you. and joining us now is senator

john thune. there's a lot of breaking news. let's start there. what questions do you have about michael flynn and his conversations with the russians? >> well, i am somebody who believes, alisyn, that we need to take stern actions with regard to the russians for a lot of reasons, what they are doing in crimea and ukraine and meddling in the u.s. election, i think we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to understand what their objectives and motives are, and know that they are not going to have the best interests of the united states in mind. so what proceeds from this i think remains to be scene. i am pleased action was taken, and general flynn resigned and president trump was right to accept that resignation, and now it's important to go about the business of securing the nation, and a lot of it has to do with not only other hot spots around the world but russia as well. >> is it your impression that

michael flynn went rogue and acted alone and decided to tell the russians that sanctions would be eased all on his own or do you believe it was from somebody higher up? >> i don't know the answer to that, and i am not sure at this point anybody does. i think it's clear that michael flynn was acting in a way that was inappropriate, and as i said before, it's important now that we move forward. there are a lot of national security threats that we face around the world, and all you have to do is pick up a paper or turn on your television set and you see that every day, the world is an increasingly dangerous place, and we need to be focussed on what we can do to secure our country and protect americans. >> on friday night on air force one president trump told reporters he did not know about the reports that michael flynn had had conversations with the russian ambassador about easing sanctions, and how is that

possible? >> you will have to ask them, alisyn. i suspect you will probably hear from sean spicer at his daily avail and i am sure those are questions that will be raised and i don't have any answers to -- >> i understand, but do you believe the white house counsel would keep that information from the president? >> again, that's a question that is better asked of the president and his team. you will get that opportunity this afternoon, i think, and there will be hard questions asked. >> i guess i am wondering, what does it tell you and what are your concerns if somehow the white house or the director of national intelligence wasn't sharing this information about this phone call with the president? >> obviously i would be very concerned if information that was pertinent to america's national security interests was not being shared with the apope

r -- appropriate people at the white house, and i think this step was an important one and they made a move and a decisive move and hopefully we will get more answers about the questions you are asking and those will have to be answered by the white house, and my concern is the national security interest and the steps we are taking to ensure we are protecting americans, and hopefully what comes out of this is a focus on that, and i am one of many members of congress that believe we need to take strong actions where the russians are concerned to send a clear message we are not going to tolerate this behavior. >> in other words, if the president did no back at the end of last month when the acting attorney general sally yates says she informed the white house, is it fair to say you think they should have acted sooner in getting rid of michael flynn? >> again, i am not privy to

those conversations. the questions you are asking are all questions that have to be answered by the white house. obviously they made a decision, and i think the decision happened very quickly yesterday in response to information that they received, and information, i think, that vice president pence received in briefings with general flynn and i think it was the right thing for the general to resign and it was the right thing for the president to accept his resignation, and now they have an important decision to make about who replaces him and what we are going to do to keep the country safe. >> congressman chris collins was on "new day," and he said these things happen and it's a shame and i liked michael flynn and it's too bad he had to resign and now it's time to move on. do you agree it's time to move on or do you think that as some congressmen have said, we in congress need to know who

authorized flynn's actions and continued to let him have the security information, and we need to know who in the white house is a current risk to our national security. which one are you more aligned with? >> obviously i fully believe if you have a member of your team not getting the job done, or you have questions about actions that they are taking, that you would take duh saoeecisive acti address that, and they did, and there's no question there will be members of the team that get out over their skis and have to be reigned in. i think many of us are interested and obviously awaiting the responses to those questions, but for right now, my concern is that the national security office get staffed up

again, that they find somebody to replace general flynn and they get about the important work that securing the country and protecting americans. i think that's what most americans want to see coming out of this, and those things happen and particularly in a new administration they are still developing the inner workings between the various pieces of their national security team, and in this case they made what i think was a strong and decisive move and an appropriate move and now we have to get about the important business of protecting the country. >> very quickly, do you think we will hear from mitch mcconnell and paul ryan this morning on this? >> well, i think there will be an opportunity to pose questions of members of congress and the leadership up here, and i suspect that they, like me, will be waiting to see what the white house has to say in response to

some of your questions. >> let's talk about the cabinet. there has been movement. steve ma knew chin has been confirmed, and as a result of some questionable things in puzder has questions in his past. >> he is scheduled for a hearing on thursday and he will have an opportunity to respond to questions that have been raised in respect to his record and background and some of the issues that have popped up. any confirmation process, there are questions, and there's not anybody that comes to this that does not have extensive experience in some world, and in some cases, that's the purpose of a confirmation hearing. we will find out on thursday when he has a chance to answer

those questions, and then we will proceed from there. >> do you support him? >> i want to hear what he has to say in response to some of the questions. i think we have to give him a chance to address those, but i will make my decision based on how he responds to some of the questions this week. >> and skwrufp gorsuch said he was disheartened and demoralized about some of the things trump was saying about the judiciary. where are you now? >> i think he represented in his response to some of the questions, alisyn, he's an independent judge. i think he is a very well qualified and somebody in the mainstream. if you look at the decisions he issued, the 800 opinions he wrote as a member of the tenth circuit, 98% of those were unanimous and that's on a

divided court, and when he was appealed to the supremes on 7 of the 8 cases, the supreme court upheld his opinions. this is somebody that has a great record and deserves an up and down vote and i think democrats in the senate will permit that to happen just the same way we allowed the judges forward put together by president clinton and obama -- >> well, not merrick garland. you are changing the timeline. as you know, democrats are very angry that merrick garland was twisting in the wind there for ten months. >> well, there's a big difference of a vacancy that occurs in the middle of an election and the start of a presidential term. you look at president clinton and obama, their first terms in office they had two vacancies in the court and all four of those nominees were appointed or voted without a filibuster in the united states senate, and that's the precedent we want to see

continue. >> thank you for being on "new day." democrats are demanding an intel briefing immediately on the revelation surrounding general flynn's communications with russia. will they release transcripts of those conversations? will the american people get the information about what is going on in our government? senator john tester of montana joins us next. with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov oh, it's actually...s your sfx: (short balloon squeal) it's ver... sfx: (balloon squeals)

ok can we... sfx: (balloon squeals) i'm being so serious right now... i really want to know how your coffee is. it's... sfx: (balloon squeals) hahahaha, i had a 2nd balloon goodbye! oof, that milk in your coffee was messing with you, wasn't it? yeah. happens to more people than you think. try lactaid, it's real milk, without that annoying lactose. mmm. good right? yeah. lactaid. it's the milk that doesn't mess with you.

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. safety doesn't come in a box. it's not a banner that goes on a wall.

it's not something you do now and then. or when it's convenient. it's using state-of-the-art simulators to better prepare for any situation. it's giving offshore teams onshore support. and it's empowering anyone to stop a job if something doesn't seem right. at bp, safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better.

democrats are demanding an intelligence briefing from the fbi and justice department on what they found in communications between now ousted national security adviser, michael flynn, and his russian counterpart about sanctions and who knows what else. let's discuss with john tester of montana. i want to talk to you about the va, and we will get to it and i know our men and women in uniform deserve the best, but i want to get to this, we are hearing idle secure kwracuriosi there's a spin coming out of the white house and from your republican counterparts, and do you accept it's time to move on. >> i will tell you the resignation of general flynn is very disturbing and i think it's important that congress does its job of checks and balances and finds out what has transpired.

i think our national security is very important to me and everybody that serves in congress, it should be a top priority. to find out what transpired between general flynn and the russians is our job and we need to dig to the bottom of it and find out what really happened. from an administration standpoint, i will tell you, chris, this is an opportunity to rebuild trust when it comes to national security issues, and everybody had lost faith in general flynn. i think it's an opportunity for the administration to bring on somebody they trust, and congress needs to do their job and our job is to find out what really transpired. >> we know that the white house counsel was told about this several weeks ago, a couple weeks or more ago. did the president know? would the white house counsel keep this to themselves? you had manafort, the chairman

of the campaign step down because of ties to russia, and we have had the sheltering of russia by the president of the united states, and then you had him feign ignorance about the reporting of michael flynn, and now we have this? >> i think we need to find out what the facts are. trust but verify. there's plenty concern about the president president and russia, and this is a time for the administration to right the ship and move forward, but in the meantime i think -- >> but this is a big part of his job, isn't it senator? you had brady come out and different parts of gop leadership saying this 1924 lob of compelling the president's taxes and having us review them in the weighs and means, that's not going to happen, and now you have mike flynn stepping down

because of his dealings with russia and we still don't have a scratch of transparency of where the president is with russia, but don't the people deserve to know some of this stuff? >> they absolutely do. the truth will set you free. i say do the investigation and let the facts speak for themselves, and i firmly believe we need to find out what the facts are and should not jump to conclusions, and then move forward. general flynn's resignation may be the tip of the iceberg or may be all there is to it and be done. we need to find out what the facts are. >> should there be hearings about this and an inquiry for investigation? >> yesterday there was a briefing asked for on this issue and i support that and i think we need to move forward through the appropriate committees to

get to the truth. i do support making sure we know what the facts are and what transpired? >> do you think these are questions about national security or palace intrigue? >> no, it's about national security. russia has been a serious concern for the united states since i was born and since before i was born, and the fact is how we move forward, how we treat russia and deal with them is a critical component of our national security. >> white house went from saying flynn has their full confidence to saying him reviewing him stepping down in just hours, and this is an odd coordination at the least. and let's pivot, we know the man that will take over the man actual is an obama holdover

named david tial kin. >> well, david worked as an under secretary under bob mcdonnell, the former secretary of the v.a. and did a good job. i think that bringing him onboard, he understands the challenges with the v.a., and it adds continuity to that agency which i think is critically important, and he's somebody that everybody knew on both sides of the aisle, and that's why he got the unanimous vote yesterday and i think he has a tough job ahead of him, and there will be no honeymoon period and he has been there and knows what the problems are, and he needs to step up and fix them and that could be a myriad of issues of v.a. is facing, and he made promises in the v.a.

committee and we will hold him accountable. >> let me ask you something, and you talk to vets and their opinion about the v.a., it's mixed. they say don't get rid of the v.a., it does a lot of things really well, and the problem seems to be the intractability of the issues, that what it doesn't do well it never seems to get better at. why do you think that is? >> i think once they get through the door they like the health care they receive and getting through the door is the problem and that's why the hiring freeze is a problem, and he opened it up so they could get more medical professionals, and i thank the president for that, but they did not allow folks to be hired in the veteran arena, which is really important. in montana, at least, once they

get through the door, veterans like the health care they receive. on the other side of that coin, the choice act that we passed in congress a few years back has been a total wreck, and the v.a. gets blamed for that and should get some of the blame for that and congress needs to get some of the blame, too, and make it better, and cut the red tape for the hospitals working through the v.a. >> always listening to our fighting men and women of what is in their best interests. hopefully it goes better from here. thank you for talking to us. who will president trump pick to be his next national security adviser, and there are three names, and we will break down the picks. i had no idea. it's opened up a whole new world for me. ♪

pain from chest congestion whecan make this...d, feel like this. all-in-one cold symptom relief from tylenol®, the #1 doctor recommended pain relief brand. tylenol® mattress firmness? fortunately there's a bed where you both get what you want every night. enter sleep number and the ultimate sleep number event, going on now. sleepiq technology tells you how well you slept and what adjustments you can make. she likes the bed soft. he's more hardcore.

so your sleep goes from good to great to wow! only at a sleep number store. and right now save 50% on the ultimate limited edition bed. go to sleepnumber.com for a store near you.

president trump named retired lieutenant keith kellogg after general michael flynn resigned last night. one name is rising to the top of the list to replace flynn. let's discuss it all with retired lieutenant general, mark

hertling, and dana bash and barbara starr. barbara, i know you have tpha reporting and tell us what the reaction is at the pentagon and who is the frontrunner? >> it appears at this point, alisyn, perhaps the frontrunner is retired navy admiral bob harward. he could be most importantly very close to defense secretary, james mattis. he has work for mattis before. he ran operations in afghanistan for a period of time and a former navy s.e.a.l.s, and he served on the national security council in the past. does he have the broad ongoing national security management expertise? perhaps not. but he is close to mattis and that may be one of the most important things right now to bring stability to the entire

process that which appears to be badly shaken. two other contenders, retired general david petraeus scheduled to meet with trump today and still under probation for his violations of handling classified information, and also kellogg served years ago and perhaps does not have the current level of experience in dealing with isis and north korea. right now, bob harward is the guy to watch. >> so david petraeus, that would be an interesting choice. is he too tarnished? >> could be, alisyn. what i would say is, one of the things i think we are looking for across the board is somebody that could bring organization to the national security council and do it quickly. petraeus, certainly having

worked for him, he could do that fast. he would have the right systems in place, and provide a little bit of flow to the organization. he would also contribute to the balance of some of the more extreme views within the oval office, and i am not just talking about the president, i am talking about some of his advisers. >> meaning like steve bannon, you think petraeus could be a good counter balance to bannon, which some consider extreme nationalism. >> i think that could take place. he would provide an unbelievably informed world view because of his military experience and in washington as the cia director. you are right, he is bringing a little baggage to this particular issue. >> dana, that leads us to what is going on inside the white house. we have had so many analyst take the view of, you know, these are rookie mistakes we are seeing, and there has been missteps and this happens, but i know you

have reporting on just what the mood is and what the feeling is about how decisions are made and procedures there? >> not great, that is probably the nice way to put the mood and the feeling inside the white house because of the fact that there have been so many leaks, so many questions about who -- what particular tpaef tupl is in charge. to some extent, i'm told not as much as those who are kind of pointing bows and arrows at each other on a lower level would like to think that we see on the top level, meaning, for example, reince priebus, the white house chief of staff is somebody who was not a long-time true believer. we know that. he was the rnc chair.

he had to be kind of more diplomatic, sravisa vie, all ofe republicans, and there was skepticism on donald trump, and having said that, the guy at the top of that food chain, i would think it's fair to say that's steve bannon, i am told has a good relationship with reince priebus, that they are partners. one source even said to me they do co-parenting, which gives you a sense of where things are and how things stand because it is still much like the campaign and his corporations, donald trump's white house. but he is very much focused on the big picture and very much focused on in the weeds decisions for better or worse, and so that is why there's a need for this co-parenting, i am told. >> but who is the child in that

equation? who are they co-parenting? >> i think you can understand the child in that situation. i don't mean to be disrespectful at all. this term, co-parenting was told to me tongue and cheek, so let's just be clear. the idea is to manage the president, and that's the more respectful way to say it and the more realistic way to say it, and that's not unusual for any principle, but it is taken to the inth degree. >> all of this is said on the backdrop of north korea testing a missile, and the fight with isis, and i could go on and on, and is there trepidation inside the pentagon that this lapse at the national security council is

worry some? >> the intelligence community are full of professionals that deal with these things day-to-day. you want somebody that can coordinate the inputs of all of those agencies when there is a crisis, and they need a person to be ready to deal with it. >> can i add to that quickly? >> yeah. >> that is that the idea of general petraeus, and there's a lot of politics here and if he were named democrats would say it's not fair, you went after hillary clinton for e-mailing classified information and he did, too. but put that aside, the national

security of the country is at stake here, and they want somebody regardless of party who can handle that job. >> thank you very much for being here. thank you all, and great to talk to you. chris? so far president trump has remained silent on flynn's departure. could he have not known about the scandal unfolding with his national security adviser when the media has been all over this story for days? that's what he says. we tested on t it on the bottom next. if you're told you have cancer,

explore your treatment options with specialists who treat only cancer. every stage... every day.... at cancer treatment centers of america. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts isjust wanna see ifa again? my score changed... you wanna check yours? scores don't change that much. i haven't changed. oh, really? ♪ it's girls' night they said business casual. i love summer weddings! oh no. yeah, maybe it is time. maybe i should check my credit score. try credit karma. it's free. oh woah. that's different. check out credit karma today. credit karma. give yourself some credit.

♪ the sun'll come out for people with heart failure, tomorrow is not a given. but entresto is a medicine that helps make more tomorrows possible. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow... ♪ i love ya, tomorrow in the largest heart failure study ever. entresto helped more people stay alive and out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto. the most serious side effects are angioedema,

low blood pressure... ...kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. ♪ tomorrow, tomorrow i love ya, tomorrow.♪ ask your heart doctor about entresto. and help make tomorrow possible. ♪ you're only a day away ♪ time for the five things to know for your new day. donald trump looking for a new national security adviser after michael flynn resigned. he said he misled the white house about his contacts with the russian ambassador before the president took office, but who else new? and then senate

confirmations could get a green light. >> and then bergdahl can't get a fair trial after being attacked from trump. and then sandusky's son facing child abuse charges. he was arraigned on charges for alleged offenses in 2013. water no longer flowing over the nation's tallest dam. remember that spillway, the emergency one was breached, and officials are hoping lake levels will go down another 50 feet before expected storms on thursday. for more on the 5 things to know, go to cnn.com for the latest. what will president trump say about michael flynn's resignation? we will get the bottom hraoeuli

first. >> but first families on the reservation trying to survive in sub zero cold, but one organization is helping to keep their homes warm this winter. >> winters here can be life threatening. one spirit is a non-profit that helps out the people here on the reservation in south dakota. we have homes that are standard, and people struggle with poverty and no jobs and some people have wood stoves because it's the way to heat your home. >> we have to burn anything, clothes, something, just to keep warm. >> we're an open country. sometimes the wood is further to get. the people just struggle to be able to get out and get the wood because of the poverty.

there's no gas money to get out there or no vehicle. >> we go out and cut the wood, you know, and carry the wood in the house where it's needed. >> befothere's hardly any wood us, we have to put plastics inside and outside just to keep warm, and they brought wood over and that's helpful for us. >> it's part of our culture to help one another. >> here we go. next house. >> impact your world, restoring more than property, belfor.com. your insurance company

won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says you picked the wrong insurance plan. no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with liberty mutual new car replacement™, you won't have to worry about replacing your car because you'll get the full value back including depreciation. and if you have more than one liberty mutual policy, you qualify for a multi-policy discount, saving you money on your car and home coverage. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. that's why i use excedrin.n hold because of a headache. it has two pain fighters plus a booster and for some, headache relief starts in just 15 minutes. now moments lost to headaches are moments gained with excedrin. [heartbeat]

bp engineers use underwater robots, so they can keep watch over operations below the sea, even from thousands of feet above. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. because safety is never being satisfied. companies across the state are york sgrowing the economy,otion. with the help of the lowest taxes in decades, a talented workforce, and world-class innovations. like in plattsburgh, where the most advanced transportation is already en route. and in corning, where the future is materializing. let us help grow your company's tomorrow - today at esd.ny.gov why are you checking your credit score?

you don't want to drive old blue forever, do you? [brakes squeak] credit karma, huh? yep, it's free. credit karma. give yourself some credit. president trump has said surprisingly little about michael flynn, and the last time he was asked on friday aboard air force one, here's what he said. >> i don't know about it. i have not seen it. what report is that? >> i have not seen that. i will look at that. >> the president who watches more tv and reads more articles than any of his predecessors in all likelihood did not know something that was all over the media for days. let's get to the bottom line for

the "washington examiner." the president will get multiple chances to answer questions today and he has been ducking this and the white house is spinning in gross fashion, and one of his advisers this morning refusing to answer questions about who knew what and when about this situation, saying we can't get information about who knew and that is not going to cut it? >> the president does need to talk about this, because essentially firing the national security adviser is such a big deal and the position is so important. we know from news reports -- i know from talking to people in washington that the national security council has been dysfunctional. michael flynn was not able to get one of his top deputies confirmed and the president has not spoken about any of this. we know he watches the news, and we know that political organizations that run ads that want to reach the president monitor the television shows that we know he watches.

he had to know about this, but the question is how much did he believe and what did his subordinates in the administration tell him? >> there you go, and we know that sally yates, the acting attorney general did report to the white house council at the end of last month, we don't know the date but a couple weeks ago, and so there are only two options, and they are both bad, either the white house counsel kept it from the president and the vice president, or the president was not telling the truth when reporters asked him and he did not move with alack raw tea when he learned about michael flynn. >> it's amazing how difficult management of the white house can be for presidents and they don't always do things that

would appear to be logical. when sally yates briefed aides about this and the first thing they should have done was run it up the train and briefed the president. it doesn't mean that's necessarily what happened. i think the other thing going on here, and i can't stress it enough is, i think the administration and the president constantly attacking reporters for producing news they believe is not real is something that they believe wholeheartedly, and i think that unless we know exactly how and when the president was confronted by people he trusts and said this has happened with mr. flynn, what do you want to do about it, it's hard to know exactly when he knew what he knew. we still don't actually know -- look, we still don't know what his reaction was. did he talk to michael flynn? who, as a consequence, is he going to bring in to set things right? >> sure, sure, and that will come out. you are saying there's a third

possibility, and that is sally yates told the white house aides and it didn't make it up the chain because of the disorganization? >> yeah, i think the president and his team are still adjusting to what it means to run a government versus a business and a campaign. >> hold on a second. it's not making sense. you are right to give the benefit of the doubt, and people criticize that suggestion, but if we don't know, you should give deference to the unknown in this case, and however we do know, it cannot be true the white house can be upset about this reporting in any real way, because this is about their refusal to bring out facts that would never have come to light without journalists doing their job. they ducked this information. the white house counsel, not passing it on, short of that person resigning because of

malfeasance, so we will wait on that, but they are not answering the questions this morning. that's what you do when a story is fake, as they love to say. you correct it. you say, well, here's the real answer, and there's none of that. the president said he had not heard of this story, and that's almost impossible to believe. kellyanne and other advisers are out there talking, and the congressman suggested that the gop leadership is not talking about this because they are having valentine's day with their spouses and we should move on now. >> that's ridiculous. >> it's about fake, but not about the media, it's about fake responses interest real questions. >> i agree with you in that regard, and sometimes the logical answer in these cases is not always correct because i don't think they know that one side knows what the other side is doing necessarily. there are a lot of competition,

and i don't think they figured out how to run things smoothly. >> thank you very much for the bottom line. >> manafort and flynn both involved with russia and both out. cnn "newsroom" begins after this break, a lot of news and questions. stay with cnn. ext"... you'll know exactly when we'll be there. giving you more time for what matters most. (team sing) safelite repair, safelite replace. got a minute? new aveeno®...r you. ...positively radiant® 60 second in shower facial. works with steam to reveal... ...glowing skin in just one minute. aveeno® naturally beautiful results®

this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪

i am poppy harlow. >> i am john berman. a stunning and confusing morning at the white house. this morning we know that michael flynn is out as national security adviser. we know he talked about sanctions with the russian ambassador and then lied about it or misled or forgot to tell mike pence, and all of that is big news 25 days into the administration, and what is bigger news may be wt