targeted states and the millions -- hundreds of millions on television were all about repeating donald trump's swearing. well, when you are worried about your home, you're worried about feeding your family, you are worried about their future a president that swierz doesn't come into the equation. >> good luck in your candidacy. we'll talk to you soon. thank you for joining us also at this hour. inside politics with john king starts right now. thanks, kate. welcome to "inside politics." i'm john king. thanks for sharing your day with us. the national security advisor resigns and acknowledges he misled the vice president and others about his contacts with russia. >> you're presuming what general flynn did or did not know, but the key here -- and i want to repeat it, the key here is the misleading of the vice president and others. the incomplete information or the inability to completely recall what did or did not

happen as reflected in his debriefing of particular phone calls. republican have a giant obama care problem. angry crowds at town halls have some lawmakers saying let's take a cautious approach, but conservatives are demanding oon immediate repeal vote even though the party has no consensus on a replacement. >> we will have a stable transition where no one has the rug pulled out from under them while we work toward a better more stable system. this step by step approach will rescue people from obama care's collapse and give everyone in america access to affordable quality health care. this is how we deliver our promise to the american people. >> watch as that plays out. with us to share the reporting, amy walter of the political reporter, jonathan martin of the "new york times", matt visor of

the boston globe, and karen -- of the washington post. michael flynn is out as national security advisor, but there's still plenty of turmoil in the trump white house. general flynn announced his resignation late last night ak nonling "i inat add verptly briefed the president-elect and othe others." this isn't over the fbi is investigating those calls as part of a larger investigation into alleged contacts between trump associates and the kremlin. there are several congressional investigations underway too, and the president now needs to pick a new national security advisor while dealing with horrible early poll numbers and other west wing fighting. it's just day 26. it's interesting. some personnel issues, some hiccups happen to every white house early on. you can say let's not over exaggerate this. at the same time it's the national security advisor, and the president tweeting today let's start with this. the president tweeting the real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of washington? will these leaks be happening?

with apologies to the president. leaks are always a story in washington. that's not the real story. the national security advisor has to resign 25 days into the administration. >> on an issue that is not going away, which is the issue of russia, and now the bigger problem for the president is that republicans, especially senate republicans, saying we are going to do more investigating. this is now sort of put a fire in their belly to move forward on an issue that we know is still simmering from before he even took office. what happened in the campaign? the russia involvement there. now we put michael flynn, what he knew, when he knew it, and, of course, what the president knew and when he knew it. that's certainly one issue politically, but, well, then it was okay. that's the question.

was it okay that he called the russian ambassador on the day the obama administration was imposing sanctions? was it okay? is it. >> what did trump know about the call? >> listen to lindsey graham here. he was on with kate last hour, and the question, it's an old question, what did the president know and when did he know it? lindsey graham, a republican, says let's find out. >> i would have a hard time believing that general flynn would get on the phone with a russian ambassador and suggest that don't worry, we will go -- we will revisit this when we get to be president in terms of executive sanctions without some understanding that the administration would be sympathetic to the idea. now, i may be wrong. >> on this issue and then more broadly, what does it mean when you have senate republicans saying let's investigate our president. >> i think that the real lesson from these leaks should be for the president, for his entire team, that if you put out the truth in the first place, you are not going to be undermined

by subsequent leaks that come out about the -- what they would call alternative facts. >> the other -- the irony here, one of the narratives of this trump administration has been their looseness with the facts. you know, from the crowd sizes or new hampshire voting and this was like a lie too far almost for the administration. they were the ones being lied to and being misled, apparently. >> it seems like from what kellyanne conway was saying, if you can believe her facts that they're not alternative facts, that, you know, they're troubled that he was misleading them internally, and so that seems to be one of the issues for them to grapple with that that was what

pushed him out. >> yet, they were told -- >> the reason i ask this question -- >> the coverage in the media. >> the reason i ask the question, though, is weeks ago, weeks ago, the acting attorney, sally yates who has since been fired, weeks ago we know from reporting told the wte house the intercepts show that he did talk about sanctions, and so if he is telling you he did not, the intercepts show that he did. if he keeps saying he did not, then he is subject to blackmail from the russians because they can come in it and say general flynn, we now hold your job in our hands because we have this. >> that's how he has always operated. the critical mass of coverage hit a point yesterday where three major papers, the washington post, "new york times", and the journal, all had front page lead stories about turmoil at the nsc. trump responds to that. i think that was the end of it.

it's not the end of the story because there is no issue, john, besides russia that so cleaves the republican party from donald trump. trump is an outliar from the party elites on trade and on immigration he is more of a hardliner, but russia more than anything else, he has very little backing on capitol hill for his stance towards putin. there are a handful of house members, but really the entire senate and republican caucus is lined up from mcconnell all the way down against trump's stance on putin and russia. that's the danger here for trump is that this is not the end of the story because the senate republicans are going to investigate this, and they're going to call folks to the hill. >> it wasn't just -- to see lindsey graham on tv, he has been doing this for quite some time. to see john mccain something, there's nothing surprising about that. when you see roy blunt come out and say we have to have an exhaustive investigation, senator from missouri, now you are starting to see a breach in that -- >> he is a loyal republican.

>> and somebody who, quite frankly, owed his election to the success of trump in missouri. >> saved his bacon, if you will. >> also has the benefit of he has six years. he was just reelected. >> they're still going to be quiet because they're looking at a guy with a 90% approval rating among republicans, and they're all up for re-election. >> you make an interesting point about the dichotomy between the senate and the house. six plus terms. most of them in their districts because of the way they're drawing did very well. here's the leader of house republicans, paul ryan. listen closely. the end of this is interesting. >> national security is perhaps the most important function or responsibility a president has. i think the president made the right decision to ask for his resignation. you cannot have a national security advisor misleading the vice president and others. as soon as they realize they were being misled by the

national security advisor, they asked for his resignation. >> they've known that -- they have known for several weeks. it's not as soon as. as soon as it became public maybe. the other part is paul ryan is a close friend of the vice president. >> the speaker is a close friend. when he says publicly, is he just getting out over his skis  or telling us something we need to know? >> i think it's pretty obvious. >> humpy dumpy was pushed? >> how many hours after kellyanne conway gets on national television and says he has the full confidence of the president. the amount of chaos in this white house is just demonstrated. not just every day, but it feels like every three or four hours. >> what it says about mike pence and his role in the administration that trump seems to have his back, and that came on a day when pence was on the

hill, and i think people probably recognized that pence is speaking for the administration in a way that trump is backing him up. so much so they're willing to force out. >> your paper, thursday night, last thursday night posted a story about the very facts here. that flynn apparently misled mike pence about his phone call with the russian ambassador. this wasn't made until late monday evening. what took so long? >> remember general flynn was with trump early on. remember, he joined the chance at the republican national convention. he has a base in the trump wing of the partner. the president had to make a tough choice. who wassing going to be loyal to? >> jump actually doesn't like firing people. >> the public disclosure line. you heard the speaker there being interesting if you read between the lines.

>> the house republicans are much less likely to want to dig deeper. listen to the leading house democrat. >> it wasn't flynn's lie that brought him down. it was the public exposure of that lie, the white house as you reported, knew about this weeks ago and did nothing to remove him. this is a white house that might have a tolerance for patent falsehood. it's not as kellyanne conway says a simple matter of his misleading the vice president. it was the vice president then misleading the entire country and they were okay with that when it tenth hadn't been exposed by the press press.

he said when he was asked about trump conversations, the presidential conversations with general flynn. he said that would be executive privilege. yont to know what the president -- no. this happened during the transition, and the chairman knows this. the president-elect trump has no executive privilege. he is talking to his national security advisor des designate. >> where is the white house chief of staff? steve bannon in all of this? the people that should be sort of coraling the white house in at this point also seem to be undercut. reince priebus getting thrown under the bus left and right these days by friends of donald trump breitbart news talking about how he should be thrown out. imagine you are dealing with this. you have no idea what your lines of authority are. nobody knows in the white house

who they're supposed to listen to. take their marching orders from. by the way, not only is it day 26, but you're supposed to by now put up a tax bill and obama care repeal, move forward on the wall. none of that is going. >> well, we're going to continue that conversation. especially some of the palace intrigue. you're right. the president campaign, i'm going to run the government like a business. i hired the right people. >> it is day 26. another nominee is in trouble. speaking of trouble, we're pushing to repeal obama care asap. (jessica) i feel like when he eats beneful, he turns into a puppy again. you love it, don't you? you love it so much! (vo) try beneful healthy weight with chicken. with real chicken as the number one ingredient. listen, sugar, we're lettin' you go. it's that splenda naturals gal, isn't it?

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>> like sports, politics is heavily influenced by confidence and momentum. if you have the big mo, as president george w. bush used to put it, things tend to go your way in this town. if you don't, then members of your own party feel fry to break away when it comes to controversial cabinet choices, like president trump's choice for labor secretary. and members of your own party aren't as willing to show deference and instead demand action on their own priorities, even if it could put the president in a tough spot, like repeeling obama care without a plan to replace it. >> out of south carolina and johnny isaacson. the last two are a bit of a surprise. they tend to be more loyal to the leadership.

now, mr. pos ner's hearing is tomorrow. there are a number of issues. democrats don't like him on policy. he this also have some other issues about his ethics, his football divest tour and the like. they want to look at a divorce case. he has acknowledged hiring an undocumented domestic worker. how much of this is a question for loyalty to president trump or how much of this is a question to loyalty in the majority leader mitch mcconnell? >> how much of it is making sure that it doesn't impact their own election chances in another year and a half? it now, the senators don't have to worry as much about re-election. we know what the senate map looks like. not a whole lot of republican senators in trouble. they know that if the president starts to dip down into 35% approval rating or lower, now you are talking about putting the house in danger. everything else seems to be going wrong, but this would be

just for terrible blow. could the president recover? of course. 2018 is a long way to go. once you start losing, as you said, with the momentum, it gets very hard to find your footing. >> two things. i checked in with a source yesterday on the hill. why are you guys going to the mat and spending this capital for sort of a second tier cabinet post? what i meant by second tier was this is not state justice or defense, and this source quickly shot back. pos ner is not second tier, and what i meant was talking about the actual job itself. the response was very telling that the senate leadership actually likes pos ner. it took flynn telling stories and lying to the white house.

they refuse to sort of give in. any other administration, if you have the accumulation of stories about pos ner that we've seen in the last month for a labor secretary post, they would have pulled the plug weeks ago, right? it's just not worth it. this administration does not like to concede a mistake. >> the president said weeks back posner was talking about -- the president said stand in the fight. we don't want to back down. you have mitch mcconnell, who is now twisting arms for the president, and they depend on each other. they're not buddies, but they have a co-dpeependent relationsp now. mitt romney put a facebook post up yesterday, and the establishment is coming to help the disruptive president. >> also, don't forget that, you know, president trump's relationship with the hill leadership is so tense at this point that if they can't deliver on a cabinet nominee, that is likely to completely undermine their relationships going forward.

trump -- if they can't pull his nominees through, that is going to make it that much more difficult for them when it comes to much, much tougher things like coming up with tax reform or a health care overhaul. >> it gets to your point before the break about this questioning trump's management skills, his ability to pick the best people. you know, these are the things that he ran on, says and to the degree that you have chaos with mike flynn right now and you add to that not being able to get his cabinet members confirmed, it creates a more -- even more chaotic situation than we already have. >> i think part of the reason why they both got through was because they had some currency

on the hill because they are both donors, and they had a relationship with senators. these aren't trump people. you know? >> the challenge now is for posner to perform at this hearing tomorrow. if the hearing goes forward. >> if mitch mcconnell can twist two of them back, and vice president pence gets another tie-breaking vote. let's move on to obama care. an interesting show by the house republican leadership. this happens after a meeting last night after members of the freedom caucus were agitating saying, hey, we won the election. we have a republican president now. why haven't we already sent the repeal bill down there? what's the inner workings? there are some republicans if you watched the town halls of late saying let's be careful and make sure we have a replace plan before we get into the repeal business. others say, no, let's repeal. there's a clause in there. this doesn't mean anything. >> one thing that is really important to remember, more than 60% of republicans in the house

right now, were want around when obama care was passed. they got elected after 2010. they have no idea what this process looked like. they know from watching television what the town halls look like, but they weren't part of this process. i think that's very important to remember. the other pieces -- a lot of this can get done in pieces. i think it gets done through executive orders. it can get done through reconciliation where you don't have to have a cloture. you don't have to worry about democrats coming on board. you don't need super majorities. you can make changes in a very piecemeal way. i think the danger that republicans get into is when they start talking about repeal and replace, the idea that they're going to replace whatever many page 2,000 page document with another 2,000 page document. that is unlikely to happen. >> i think it's also easy to forget in the aftermath -- republicans are in power on the hill in the house and the senate in the presidency. just, you know -- this is a

party that's been at civil war since 2010, 2012, and i think it's easy to forget that sometimes in the euphoria that the party has had over winning the presidency. >> the iraq war, katrina, security, immigration. >> every campaign cycle starting in 2010, says and they told their base, look, we're going to repeal this thing. as mcconnell says root and ranch. here we are. it's february 2017. they have power. every -- the house, senate, presidency, they're not doing anything. there's not even a start. it's not an attempt. >> it's complicated. it's kplicomplicated. up next it's day 26, and already the president's management style facing scrutiny. he is looking for a new national security advisor and some conservative allies suggesting he needs a new chief of staff as well. [car engine failing to start] [clicking of ignition] uh--

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welcome back. want to show you a live picture on capitol hill. we're waiting for the house democratic leader nancy pelosi to have a news conference.

we're told item number one, talking about the resignation of michael flynn. they want an aggressive investigation on capitol hill. let's just say their tone has been aggressive about this. we'll take you up there live as soon as that event starts. back to the white house. just lunch or another twist in the early peyton place drama that is the trump west wing? chris christie at the white house this hour for lunch with the president of the united states. you might recall governor christie was passed over for attorney general or white house chief of staff. in addition to the resignation of national security advisor michael flynn, there are daily if not hourly leaks out of the white house about west wing rivalries, turf battles. governor christie says, though, it's just lunch. >> donald trump, the president of the united states, has been my friend and mary pat's freien for the last 15 years. whenever we have conversations, i'm always willing if he asks to give my opinion on things, but i have absolutely no intention nor any understanding that i'll be asked to be in the

administration in the years to come. >> even if it is innocent, just lunch, governor krooits christie and mary pat christie, what are you thinking about this timing-wise? >> i don't think there's much mystery that people expect governor christie to be in the next wave of trump stafferers. it's a matter of when it happens. is it going to be later this year or next year? it's sort of like an open assumption that christie is coming down here after he finishes up. you know, he wants to make some money, i think, but his wife works in finance. they're pretty comfortable, i think, economically. i would be surprised actually if christie wasn't in the next wave. >> amy mentioned this earlier. let's put it up on the screen. if you go to breitbart news, which during the campaign was a friend of trump, now has a couple of friends of breitbart. steve bannon, the former

breitbart ceo is senior advisor to the president. he bra ut in the senior editor from breitbart news. on the front page, if you log on, as flynn resigns, why don't we get reince next is what they're saying? this is stunning to me. these are supposed to be his friends. >> well, look, chief of staff is not exactly a job that is generally associated with long tenure. even the -- >> a month? >> this is short even for that. >> warp speed. >> even successful ones that aren't there for more than two years. it is like -- it is the hardest job in washington next to the presidency. plus, you don't get all the support that the president gets. it is always the job that if something is going wrong, the chief of staff is going to be the first guy in the line of fire with everybody saying get rid of this person. >> what about if this is the best news for trump, though, that this all happens now,

right? these are all early stumbles. people who were part of the campaign, weren't quite ready to get into the government jobs, the dysfunction, we get this over, get this out of the way early, and then you get the next few months to right the ship. >> but what -- >> the question is at the top does the person, the president of the united states, want to right the ship and how -- yeah. >> what evidence is there that he adjusts? he is still talking about voter fraud. it's -- he can't stand up and make a course correction and sort of acknowledge that he was wrong about something. it does not seem to be part of -- >> in the campaign and it looks like in this case as well in letting general flynn go whether he was nudged or just mysteriously came to the conclusion on his own that when it becomes about the president, when it becomes about his personal credibility in his standing, that is when he invokes the you're fired. i think you make a great point. look, general flynn came in with

a lot of controversy. a lot of people thought he was toxic to begin with. >> that's right. >> we're going to get up to capitol hill. are they ready for us here? let's go to capitol hill. there's adam schiff, leading democrat on the intelligence. >> any contacts between the trump campaign and any russia al arian officials during the course of that campaign. among the very serious allegations that have been that there were a course of contacts that is within the scope of the house intelligence committee will be investigating, and i think those are among the most serious allegations because if there was any form of collusion with the russians during the course of their illegal activities, that would obviously be of the utmost gravity. so i think that is a part of the context here. that is a set of allegations that can and must be investigated. >> what has taken place most recently, though, surrounds the issue of flynn's contact with the russian ambassador at the end of december.

to me the salient point here is if, in fact, the justice department alerted the white house, alerted white house counsel weeks ago that flynn had lied about his discussions with the russian ambassador. it is inconceivable to me that the white house counsel would have kept that to himself. others in the administration were aware that the national security advisor of the united states had misled other administration officials who had, in turn, misled the american people. they were okay with that. administration was okay with the fact the american people were laboring under the falsehood that they had not discussed the sanctions with the russians. the resignation of michael flynn was brought about not by discovering the falsehood, but by the fact that the falsehood became public. that ought to be deeply

disturbing to everyone. that the white house would have even contemplated tolerating a national security advisor who would lie to them and to the american people through the vice president. this obviously beg az lot of questions about whether those conversations between flynn and the russian ambassador were sanctioned by the president himself or others in the administration, whether they were knowing of those conversations, and why those who were knowing did nothing to correct the record when the american people were told otherwise. all of this merits investigation. that investigation, i believe, ought to be done, in part, through the intelligence committee as part of the investigation we're doing now, and i was very disappointed to see the speaker today unwilling to commit to investigate these communications between flynn and the russian ambassador. my feeling is if the speaker is not willing to commit to this, he ought to allow the formation of an independent commission and get out of the way.

these questions are far too important to go unanswered. i'm also -- i want to say that i'm pleased to see at least some republicans stepping forward at least today to call on the president to speak directly about whether he authorized these communications between flynn and the ambassador, whether he was aware of these. the president i think owes the american people an explanation. he ought to do that directly and not through aides. with that let me introduce elijah cummings, the ranking member on the government reform committee. . >> let me begin by asking everyone in this room a very simple question. do you hear that? do you hear the silence sf this is a town of house republicans conducting no oversight of

president trump. zero. that is what it sounds like when they abdicate their duty under the constitution. we've been asking for months for basic oversight. the president and the advisors, the ties to russia, our chairman jason chafitz has not lifted one finger. he has not requested a single -- and think about where we are right now. general flynn flew to moscow to have a lavish dinner with president putin and celebrate the kremlin-backed media outlet r.t. according to our own u.s. intelligence officials, r.t. is and i quote, "the kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet."

flynn now admits that he got paid for that trip, but he refuses to say how much he was paid. he may have violated the constitution in the process. as a retired officer, he may not except for -- the pentagon is investigating this, and we may hear back from them this week. flynn was secretly communicating with republican -- with russian officials at the same time russia was attacking our democracy. let me say that again. flynn was secretly communicating with russian officials at the same time that russia was t attacking our democracy. flynn may have violated the logan act by discussing the sanctions imposed by the united states in response to russia's

attacks. we had no idea why flynn was doing all of this and why he was trying desperately to help russia, and i know he is now resigned, but he is not going to get off that easy. we need some answers to a whole lot of questions. the obvious questions are what did the president know, and when did he know it? was the president aware of flynn's efforts? did he support them? last night we learned that the justice department warned the white house counsel three weeks ago that flynn secretly talked with russians about sanctions and may have lied about it to the vice president. the department warned that the national security advisor was at risk of being blackmailed by the russian government, and that was three weeks ago.

three long weeks ago. 21 days ago. why did the president say on friday he did not know anything about flynn's calls with the russian ambassador? did the white house counsel really never tell the president? if that's true, if that is true, i cannot see how the white house counsel could stay in his position. that would be a major national security breach not to inform the president of such a serious charge. why did flynn continue to sit in on most -- the most sensitive classified meetings until just two days ago? ladies and gentlemen, something is wrong with that picture. i want the press to press these questions. who at the white house decided to do nothing for three weeks as

flynn sat in on meeting after meeting after meeting. did the president decide the way snl did counsel decide the way? something is wrong here. madam leader, just this morning a friend competed, and this is a quote, "scapegoat." scapegoat. he basically described himself as a scapegoat. i believe we need to hold a public hearing with flynn to get to the bottom of this. our committee held three or four hearings, emergency hearings, on hillary clinton in a matter of a week or two. we need to get security clearance documents. i want to see them. i want to see what he put in those documents. i would find out if he was honest, and we need to know how much he got paid to have dinner

with putin, but that is only -- the press has asked us over and over again, i know they asked mr. schif and asked the leaders. does it end here? should things end here? no, they cannot end here. ladies and gentlemen, we are in a fight for the soul of our democracy. the question is whether we will clearly understand that this is our watch. let's be clear. are schif said it quite eloqu t eloquent eloquently. the republicans need to join us. this is not a democratic issue. this is not a republican issue. it's not an independent issue. this is an american issue. now it gives me great pleasure to introduce the chairman, the ranking member of the judiciary committee. >> unless we want to yield to the leader. >> oh, i'm sorry. >> all right. >> ranking member. >> thank you so much.

the overdue resignation of general flynn last evening does not resolve this matter. i have been trying to get my chairman committee to hold a hearing immediately today, certainly not later than tomorrow. what did president trump know and when did he know it? what did vladimir putin know and when did he know it? how is it possible that the white house counsel knew this for about three whole weeks and did nothing? now, the american people deserve answers, and they're not

receiving them from either the trump administration or from the republican congress, so we will do everything within our power to continue to get to the bottom of this very serious breach and trust and security. we have not heard back from our leadership today, and we've called repeatedly to chairman goodlad about this matter. now, why is it that the flynn resignation does not resolve this matter? we need to know and to find out who authorized flynn to speak to the russian. we need to know why he lied to the administration and the american people and why the

white house counsel office sat on this information for three weeks. now it would surprise me to find out that flynn was acting on his own. he seems to speak to the president of the united states almost every day. we want everyone to know that this is just the beginning of an inquiry that we're not making accusations. we're just trying to find answers to these very vexing problems. >> good afternoon. ranking member of homeland security. on what you have heard from

other members, this resignation only starts the issue. there are a lot of unanswered questions. you can't blame the press for a person's resignation. the press, just like the people, have a right to know. there are a lot of unanswered questions that go with this resignation that as members of congress we're duty-bound to try to find answers to. i'm looking forward to the leadership should they desire on republican -- to step forward and do the right thing for this country. russia, under any circumstance has demonstrated that they are a bad actor and complicity in a lot of what's going on. the people have a right to know. we're here today to put front and center that this is the people's house, the people just like members of congress have a

right to know what's exactly behind the resignation, who knew what was going on before the phone calls, were there transcripts available? we understand there might be. that's why congress can get engaged in this as well as the people so we can finally get some answers. >> i'm elliott engel, the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee. thank you, madam leader and thank you fellow ranking members. good afternoon. the national security council is at the top of the foreign policy making apparatus. if the council is dysfunctional, if its leadership is compromised, it puts our national security at risk. it's a good thing that general flynn stepped down. but his departure raises more questions than answers. what promises did general flynn take to putin's ambassador, and

who else was involved? how deep were the connections between russia and president trump's campaign prior to the election? why did the white house ignore the warnings of the justice department and allow someone subject to putin's blackmail to remain in a critical national security role? this problem, therefore, is far from resolved. we need to pursue, punish, and protect, pursue the answers about russia's interference in our election and putin's ongoing ties to this administration. a thorough investigation by a nonpartisan commission. punish those responsible for trying to undermine our democracy from overseas and protect future elections from this sort of unlawful intelligence. legislation introduced by ranking member cummings -- >> listening here to house

democrats. house democrats pressing their case demanding a congressional investigation into the circumstances that have now led to last night's resignation and president trump's national security advisor general michael flynn, put bluntly, the democrats say they want to know what the president knew and when he didn't. that's a simple way of saying they want all the detailed information about why general flynn resigned, when they knew inside the white house that he had contact with the russian ambassador in the final days of the obama administration rg, was the president aware of those contacts, and when did the president become aware that in saying he did not discuss the issue of sanctions against russia with the ambassador, but that was simply not true. that he had, i object deed, discussed sanctions even though he had told officials inside the white house, including the vice president that he had not discussed those sanctions. let's go come back. >> the democrats say let's have a thorough investigation. one of the democrats saying if the house republicans won't empower the intelligence committee to have a robust investigation that the speaker should "get out of the way" and name an independent commission. the democrats have legitimate questions here. they have political questions

here. is this issue big enough? they don't have the votes. is this issue big enough to get the republicans' attention and have the republicans say we have no choice but to do something? >> it's a truism of washington that there's nobody with less political power than those that are in the house minority, and there's a reason for that, right? they don't have subpoena power. they don't control the committees. she can have press conferences, and they can make statements like they just did, but this is really a matter of what the republicans do in the house majority and in the senate where i think democrats do have some more power because of the rules of the senate. look, they were going to maximize this, and they're going to get out there and hide -- understandably so. the real question is how far do paul ryan and mitch mcconnell let their colleagues go in digging into this story? >> how much pressure can the democrats bring in the sense that it is a fair point for the democrats to say, you know, hillary clinton had resigned as secretary of state, and you were still looking into her e-mail

server. the presidential campaign was over, and some republicans were saying we should still look into her e-mail servers. can the democrats at least create the political environment to convince republicans or at least on the house side -- can they just say we don't have to yield to this pressure because we're safe? >> i think what this -- this event, this cast of characters that we saw in front of the microphone, demonstrated among other things is that the house democrats this sort of talent at this that you might have seen in, say, a henry waxman in his prime. just standing in front of the microphones reading statements like this is not going to get them where they want to go. >> right. it's a great point about they have their own dysfunction within the democratic party about who is in charge and who is the future leader and to not see whether it's nancy pelosi herself, the democratic leader, or to pick one or two spokesmen for the party and present a coherent message. everybody has to have their say. >> house members sitting in

their conference meeting saying we have gotten 250 calls in my office about this russia thing. i went home this weekend, and that's all i heard about. that's what it takes in order to bring it up to that level. until then if if they go home and people are, like, this isn't such a big deal, it's the media picking on trump, he is going to be fine, then they're not going to -- >> let me pull away from the democrats for a minute. there are legitimate questions that the president has not answered. a, did he know during the transition when he was president-elect trump, not president trump, that his national security advisor designee on the very day the obama administration was announcing sanctions was talking to the russian ambassador? when did he find out that in those conversations the issue of sanctions came up and the possibility apparently some conversation about potentially easing those sanctions? when did he know that? when the justice department three weeks ago gave a heads up to the white house, that if nuclear flynn is telling you he did not do this, everything -- we're getting to the point where we have to stop on this. we have to go. thanks for joining us today. my colleague wolf blitzer will be up after a quick break.

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this is cnn breaking news. >> hello. i'm wolf blitzer. from whereever you are watching from around the world. we begin with breaking news. the white house about to face a barage of questions over the resignation of president trump's national security advisor. taking a live look at pictures coming from from the briefing room. sean spicer will be taking questions any minute now from reporters. questions about the resignation of michael flynn certain to be the main focus on this day. u.s. sanctions with the russian ambassador to the united states before president trump took office then misleading the vice president, mike pence, about the conversation. flynn's departure raising even more questions for the trump

administration. a source now telling cnn the justice department warned the white house last month that flynn misled the administration. >> live coverage of the news conference from sean spicer. republicans on capitol hill. they are reacting to the news about flynn supporting the president's decision to accept his resignation. anyone in the white house -- to make that call to the russian ambassador. >> i think the president made the right decision to ask for his resignation. you cannot have a national security advisor misleading the

vice president and others. >> you talk about some sensitive issues. for the most part i think it's important for the president to, you know, lay out what happened, yeah. >> i think congress needs to be informed of what actually general flynn said to the russian ambassador about lifting sanctions. i want to know did general flynn do this by himself, or was he directed by somebody to do it? we do have allegations now coming from the media that the department of justice informed the white house that the national security advisor may be subject to blackmail by the russians. i think that's something congress has a right to know. >> what if anything president trump knew about michael flynn's contacts with the russian ambassador in it washington. how significant is that? >> i think the age old question, what did the president know and when did he know it? that is going to be asked of white house press secretary sean spicer, and that is