nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than mr. flynn. good evening. those are the words of white house lawyer ty cobb. tonight, to the contrary, the many implications for current and administration officials, a former national security adviser michael flynn's guilty plea in the russian investigation. the many ways it suggests there may be far more to come, because he also agreed to cooperate with special counsel robert mueller. the many ways it undermines virtually everything the president and his surrogates have been saying about russia for month after month after month.

the many ways it fills in pieces of a fact picture and potential a very bleak picture for the white house. people close to the president, notably son-in-law jared kushner and perhaps the president himself. whatever comes to pass, what happened today, flynn's admission that he lied to the fbi about contact with the russian ambassador to the united states, and what's contained in the related court filing, it really moved the needle. it gives context to everything we've learned so far. and keeping them honest tonight, it stands in sharp contrast to what much of the administration has been saying about russia again and again and again. >> the russia story is a total fabrication. it's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. russia is a rouse. there is no collusion. you know why? because i don't speak to russians. this russia thing with trump and

russia is a made-up story. the entire thing has been a witch-hunt. look, there's been no obstruction, there's been no collusion. all i can tell you is this, there was no collusion. there was no nothing. russia has 20% of our uranium. i think that's your russia story. that's your real russia story. not a story where they talk about collusion, and there was none. >> well, that has been the line, even as one revelation after another undermines it. first, with respect to contact during the campaign, some of which the guilty plea of george papadopoulos revealed. he was derided as a mere coffee boy by people in the white house. however, former defense intelligence agency director, former national security adviser of the president of the united states is no mere coffee boy. he was central to the campaign and central to the transition. simply put, part of the tight inner circle. a big fish. and now for robert mueller, a big catch. a big piece in this puzzle, as

well. with the information contained in michael flynn's plea, a window opens into contact with russia during the transition, possibly illegal attempts to conduct foreign policy, and then lying about it during his brief tenure as national security adviser. today's news sheds light on something fired acting attorney general sally yates said to me about the trip she made to the white house on the 26th of january to warn that general flynn lied about at least one russian contact and was therefore vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. when were you first made aware that general flynn was lying about his interactions with the russian ambassador? >> first, let me say, and i know this may seem artificial to folks, i can't really talk about what general flynn's underlying conduct was because that's based on classified information. >> can you say when you were made aware about an issue with

his underlying conduct? >> it was in the early part of january, where we got some indication about what he had been involved in. and then sort of the middle part of january when there were false statements that started coming out of the white house based on misrepresentations he had made to people there. >> she was fired five days after first warning the white house, and flynn was allowed to stay on another two weeks, even though the white house knew flynn was lying about russian contacts. getting back to the underlying conduct, it is revealed that robert mueller's charging document today centers on late december. before we dig deeper on that with our correspondents and our legal panel over the next hour, a reminder of the context. this is happening weeks after the u.s. intelligence community warned that russia had meddled in the election. and at the very same time that president obama is sanctioning russia for that meddling. obviously, after the trump tower meeting, the russian contact by carter page and now we know george papadopoulos. additionally it came after the contacts with the russian

ambassador sergey kislyak during the republican convention, after the december meeting at trump tower. the one involving flynn and jared kushner, in which kushner asked about setting up a private communications channel with the trump team and the kremlin. so this transpired after related developments, and prior to many others, including the president allegedly asking james comey to go easy on flynn. his firing then of james comey, leaning on republican lawmakers to end their own investigation. and of course, the naming of robert mueller. according to the charging document, on or about the 28th of december, as president obama announces sanctions, kislyak contacts flynn. on or about the next day, flynn contacts a senior transition official at mar-a-lago. we now know who she is.

then he calls sergey kislyak, and according to the charging document, lies about it to the fbi. the russians you'll recall do not retaliate for the sanctions, which raised questions at the time. the 30th, president-elect trump tweets -- kellyanne conway was at mar-a-lago, and her line, nothing was going on. >> we've been talking about this for a while. i think that all we heard all through the election was russia, russia, russia. whenever it came to anything donald trump said or did, and now since the election, it's just this fever pitch of accusations and insinuations. and we know why hillary clinton lost. i think the clues are obvious, they were obvious to us all along. they're obvious to everyone now. and i don't believe vladamir putin deterred her from competing in pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan. states that donald trump carried for the first time as a republican in decades. >> so again, she said that on or around the very day we now know flynn was talking to russians and reporting back to mar-a-lago

where kellyanne conway did that interview. and just a couple weeks later on "face the nation" here's what vice president mike pence said about flynn's conversations with sergey kislyak. >> it was strictly coincidental they had a conversation. they did not discuss anything having to do with the united states' decision to expel diplomats or impose a censure against russia. >> well, today's charging documents suggest clearly otherwise about that and about more. and even as the repercussion of this are just beginning, we're already learning more about the events described in them and the circumstances surrounding thel. with that for the very latest i want to go to cnn justice correspondent pamela brown. so just walk us through what happened today in court, specifically what flynn admitted to lying about. >> anderson, flynn's charge to lying to the fbi and the plea

agreement center around confidences he had with russian ambassador to the u.s. serge kislyak in december last year. and the court documents filed, we learned on december 29th. flynn called his subordinate kt mcfarland and other transition officials at mar-a-lago, where they discussed the sanctions being imposed on russia. others at that meeting include reince priebus, steve bannon and kellyanne conway. according to flynn, the transition officials did not want russia to escalate the situation. so flynn immediately called kislyak asking russia not to overreact to sanctions that the u.s. government imposed on russia that day. the court documents say flynn called mcfarland back and briefed her on the phone call. vice president pence stated on national television in january the next month, sanctions were not discussed with kislyak. now we're learning that at the very least, anderson, administration officials beyond flynn knew that and knew that

was a lie, what flen said on national television. also today, another interaction flynn had with the russian ambassador was revealed. on december 22, a senior trump transition official, who we now know is jared kushner asked flynn to find out and to quote, learn where each government stood on the resolution and to influence those governments to delay the vote or to defeat the resolution. so anderson, today the government said flynn lied about those conversations with kislyak in his fbi interviews. >> so how did mueller and his team of investigators get flynn to cooperate? >> flynn entered into a plea agreement. he pled guilty to lying to the fbi in exchange for providing information to the prosecutors that the prosecutors view as helpful in their investigation. flynn has also, as we know, been concerned about possible legal exposure for his son over his ties to turkey.

so this plea deal could have also been a way for flynn to protect his family, protect his son. in a statement released today he acknowledged wrongdoing and he said my guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsel's office reflect the decision i made in the best interest of my family and of our country, anderson. >> what could flynn be facing if convicted? >> he could face five years in prison. today, the judge said he could impose a harsher or lighter sentence. since flynn is cooperating, a harsher charge or sentence would be unlikely. and what happened today raises the question of what's next? now that flynn's cooperating, we know the investigation continues, particularly in the obstruction of justice probe. interviews are still happening. it's worth noting, anderson, mueller's team interviewed senior white house advisor jared kushner earlier this month. and it now appears they wanted to get his version of events before today's plea agreement knowing what they already have

from flynn and other witnesses. and clearly the version of these court documents is what mueller thinks is true, but it doesn't line up to what people at the white house are telling us. they are telling us kushner didn't direct flynn in that phone call. >> pamela brown, thank you very much. i want to bring in our legal team. jeffrey toobin, michael zelton, and former virginia attorney general cam kuchanelly. so jeff, hard the overstate the significance of all of this today and the fact flynn is now cooperating with special counsel mueller. what stands out to you in all these filings? >> it's hard -- there have been so many discrete facts. let me point to one of them. when james comey was fired, he testified afterwards about his contacts with the president, president trump. his constant requests to limit the investigation, you know, show your loyalty. but on february 14th, it was the

most extraordinary contact between trump and comey. there was a meeting in the oval office, and trump shoed away the vice president, the attorney general, and it was just man-to-man with -- with comey. and what does donald trump say? he says, i want you to go easy on michael flynn. flynn's a good guy. leave flynn alone. today we learned maybe why he was doing that. because flynn knows a lot about the misconduct that was going on in the white house. and the fact that he was trying to cover up for flynn is really i think an incredibly damaging piece of evidence about the president's culpability in all that's gone on here. so i think the juxtaposition of today's guilty plea and the encounter with comey on february 14th is a really damning portrait.

>> so you're saying the idea that it was kushner directing michael flynn, are you saying it's possible the president was directing kushner to direct flynn? >> again, i don't want to get ahead of where the evidence is. jared kushner, why jared kushner is involved telling anyone what to do is kind of a mystery, given his complete ignorance and absence of experience and knowledge of any of the things he was dealing with, and continues to deal with in the white house. so i don't believe that jared kushner just woke up one morning and decided to tell michael flynn what to do with the russian ambassador. but i do think that the issue of why the trump administration, the trump transition team, over and over again, was trying to cultivate russia. was trying to ease the sanctions. was trying to make nice with vladamir putin. very smart, according to the december 30th tweet by the president.

that question is still at the heart of this case. why was the trump administration and the trump campaign so solicitous of vladamir putin? >> michael, legally speaking, what could this ultimately mean for the president? well, it depends on what the president knew and when he knew it and what he did with that knowledge. the thing that's interesting to me about the information that was the core of flynn's guilty plea today is that the lies that mueller chose were lies that related to sanctions and lies that related to the u.n. security council, in language that tracks exactly the logan act. so i think that -- which makes it illegal for an individual private citizen to interfere in government affairs, which is exactly what is alleged here and what is alleged kushner did. so these lies point directly to where mueller is going as he

investigates his core mandate of links and coordination between the trump campaign and russia. and the people that are implicated by the lies in this indictment or information and what mueller has to investigate are sessions and kushner and manafort, still for addition lies for flynn junior and for don junior. so there are a whole host of people who the lies of this information implicate in possible criminal wrongdoing. so for all of these people, they have to be wondering one, if they were interviewed by the fbi, what did they say? and two, will they view -- will they be viewed as this guy was viewed, flynn. because remember, flynn is pleading guilty to a lie based on "i don't recall" as his answer. not just an affirmative lie, i didn't do it. but also, i didn't recall. anyone who has watched jeff sessions testify has heard him

say that a hundred times. also in this information -- >> so that tells you that mueller is willing to bring charges based on an "i don't know" as opposed to an outright lie? >> exactly. and also what's interesting to me is that in this information, they specifically called flynn a surrogate. so anyone who said they were unaware of surrogates interfacing with russia now in mueller's view would not be telling the truth, because this guy, flynn, was called a surrogate by mueller. so if sessions knew of these meetings, if any of those five people that you put up on the screen at mar-a-lago knew of this and said no surrogates had dealings with the russians, that in mueller's view is untrue. so there's a lot of sort of traps in this information for people as mueller goes forward. but it's clear that he sees this as a big part of his mandate of links and coordination.

>> carey, mueller would not have made this deal with flynn and allowed flynn to plead guilty to what he pled, if mueller didn't already know what flynn had to offer about other people up the food chain, correct? >> no, that's right. that's how this process works in terms of the information that flynn would have had to already have provided to the special counsel's office so that they have a road map for what information he has available to him. it's so important to note that michael flynn was charged with one count of making false statements. and yet in the information itself, the document that lays out the basis for that claim, there were several instances just in the four corners of that document indicating that he did not tell the truth to federal investigators on several points. and that in itself is just a small snapshot of the information that he would have already provided to investigators and the information that he knows and

that they think he can provide in the future. so they charged him with one count matter very small, discrete charge that is only a tiny portion of the potential information that he can provide. >> anderson, may i add one point to that? >> sure. >> and i agree with that completely, because also in the statement of offense, there was a paragraph that says "and flynn lied about his foreign agent registration act dealings." that was not part of the information, but it was part of the statement of offense. so they say he's lied about that. and that is that which implicates his son, because the flynn intel group. so they've already set out another lie in the statement of information, but it's an uncharged lie. so we'll have to see whether or not that's the lie michael flynn, jr. gets charged with as they move forward there. >> ken, what stands out to you? >> well, for one, and it just jumped out as the foreign registration, that scares them a

lot, because that law has not been probably abided by and enforced very much. and now a lot of people are looking at the potential to amend those filings. paul manafort, of course, started that for us. but this continues that concern. it's kind of an unreported side story, not dealing with the central players here. but a lot of people are looking at in washington, i'm sure. with respect to today's action in court, look, michael flynn, especially in the transition, was in the middle of things in media race, as i would say in my high school. and presuming that he's continuing to be cooperative when there's every reason to think that, here's a guy who knows the conversations going back and forth. but the overarching political question, which really is the bigger one in this whole

situation, and that is the potential for collusion with russia. this is all after the campaign, and if michael flynn knows everything there is no know, and tells everything there is to tell, if the campaign still wasn't coordinating or colluding with the russians, and there's no evidence yet that they were, then the political side of this is eventually going to fizzle away. that doesn't mean michael flynn isn't going to have a felony and paul manafort and so forth aren't going to have a trail of felonies for lying to the fbi. but so far with respect to anything other than manafort's distant financial problems, and failure to file, that's what we have. >> michael? >> i think -- >> what ken is ignoring, the already significant evidence of collusion. donald trump, jr.'s e-mails to set up the meeting with the russian lawyer in june. repeated contacts with wikileaks about disclosing stolen e-mails. that is collusion. now, i don't know if it's a discrete crime, but to say that

there's no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia is simply just not true. >> i've got to get a quick break in. we'll continue the discussion. i'll also get reaction from the white house and the attempt to deflect attention onto the obama administration of all places. later senators get ready to vote on a tax bill as is it still being reviewed right now. i kept looking for ways to manage my symptoms. i thought i was doing okay.

then it hit me... managing was all i was doing. when i told my doctor, i learned humira is for people who still have symptoms of moderate to severe crohn's disease even after trying other medications. in clinical studies, the majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. just managing your symptoms? ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. michael flynn's guilty plea and cooperation with

investigators could spare him jail time, does not, however, shield him from the sting of karma or the charge of hypocrisy. >> we do not need a reckless president who believes she is above the law. lock her up. that's right. lock her up! >> lock her up. general flynn, that was at the republican national convention that nominated donald trump, at least for him "the bachelor" remarkably quiet since the news broke. as for reaction to the white house, let's go to cnn's jim acosta who has new reporting on that tonight. >> reporter: that's right, anderson. earlier today, you saw what the white house lawyer was saying, that they're not feeling any anxiety over what michael flynn will be telling the federal investigators. but i just got off the phone a few moments ago with a source close to the white house. a republican, leading republican close to this white house, who said -- described the president and his team as being in denial.

they are quote, totally in a bubble according to the source, and that the president and his team should be treating what happened today like a red alert. this source said that there have been conversations going on with the president's team, with multiple republican sources outside the white house. and what is often told to these folks outside the white house is the president believes he's going to be exonerated and this will wrap up very soon. but in the words of this source that i just got off the phone with, the feeling with this source is that they are just living inside of a bubble right now, that they're in denial as to what is happening with this russia investigation. and that this source believes the white house at this point should be getting off of this posture of not feeling the pressure, not feeling the heat and should be treating this like a quote, red alert. that's how the source described it tonight. >> do we know -- does the president talk with jared

kushner about the investigation? i mean, i know technically nobody is supposed to do anything like that. obviously this white house is unlike any other. you talk about the mood as being in a bubble. are they all in their bubble together or are they all separately in their own little bubbles? >> reporter: i can tell you just based on my own reporting, jared kushner and other top officials in the administration have been in this sort of denial mode for months. i approached senior officials inside the west wing back in february, and they had the same belief that there is nothing to the russia investigation, and they continue to say that, as if you don't really see through the b.s. and the spin. i will tell you, it was almost absurd to hear what this one senior white house official was saying earlier today, that they aren't feeling any anxiety inside the white house. we know from talking to multiple sources that they're growing weary and nervous. i talked to other sources who said they're worried about all of this.

and if you look at the letter from ty cobb earlier today describing michael flynn as a former obama administration official, that is laughable, only because barack obama fired michael flynn. he warned president trump, president-elect trump not to bring michael flynn into his administration. so there's almost a sign of desperation that you pick up on, anderson, when you talk to folks here at the white house, that they aren't dealing with reality as the source was telling me, that they are living inside of a bubble about this investigation. anderson? >> jim acosta, thank you very much. joining us now is dana bash, cnn political analyst carl bernstein and david gergen. a young david gergen served in the nixon white house. carl bernstein, of course, investigated it. dana, you've been working your sources all day from multiple threads. i'm wondering what the fallout is from this. what are you hearing? >> shock. certainly shock from those -- some of those inside the white house who i'm told were

surprisingly maybe at this point not expecting something like this. and concern maybe further down the other end of pennsylvania avenue. you have the senate in session, as you mentioned. senators are all around. they're preparing to vote on a tax bill. and there's concern about what the president is going to do next, frankly. concerned about how he's going to react to this, and whatever might come after that. as they're trying to focus on legislation. with regard to the president, i am told from people who are familiar with the atmospherics inside, that he is maybe again not surprisingly in a foul mood, that he's not happy, and, anderson, that sort of is related to the concern about the president, because as we know, as we've seen in recent history, when the president is in a foul mood, he tends to lash out. but sometimes that gets him in trouble. >> you know, carl, for a president who's been lying about fake news and fake news this and fake news that, there's nothing fake about a guilty plea from

your former national security adviser. >> this is the end for any sentiant person, i think, that believes this has anything do with fake news. this is devastating. what mike flynn represents is someone with a view of all of the dealings with russia. he's the person who talked to the president of the united states, to the president's son-in-law, to the president's aides about russia more than any other individual. he is going to tell and testify, whatever those conversations were, with numerous white house officials what in the world has been going on here, and what this coverup has been about. whether or not it shows absolute collusion or not, we'll find out. is this watergate? we're not there yet. but this is a giant step that we have seen today, and flynn is key. is he john dean? it's funny, bob woodward and i were asking the question to each other today in a telephone call. is he john dean who lays out

everything that is a conspiracy? we don't know. but he knows more perhaps than anyone, and this is a devastating event for the white house. >> david gergen, the notion that jim acosta is saying they're in a bubble of sorts, i keep coming back to the point, the fact that robert mueller knows everything already that flynn has to offer. and that's why he was willing to make this deal with him. that -- if you're in the white house, i would think that would be enormously troubling. >> absolutely. >> it is a red alert for the white house. i'm sure they're feeling they're putting out a fake story. the two things we know for sure what president trump has been claiming all along, this is witch-hunt, and here is a national security advisor that could put him in the slammer. they actually have found someone that has said i violated the

law. "the washington post" nailed this story about kislyak and conversations way back in february. allnied by the white house. fake news. the fake news been coming out the white house. what i do think it suggests, and carl is right about this, there are elmmts on the question i have to do is this going to come to john dean? certainly what's been suggested is there's been a mattive cover up, and the question is why. flynn's conversations with kiz lack, the russian ambassador on their face are fairly -- they're not that troubling. they're not uncommon, so to speak. but the question is why did you then lie about them? he only lied because he was trying to protect something. he was trying to protect some inner secrets. and now he's going to jail over it. so there are secrets to be unveiled still. we don't know whether it goes as

high as the president. we don't know indeed whether it's going to cover more than, in fact if it's going to cover kushner. but clearly when your national security advisor is willing to lie like that as he did and now take the hit, there'sing something bigger going on. and mueller is going to get to the bottom of it. he seems to be doing a pretty professional job. >> papadopoulos was lying as well in an interview. >> yes, and papadopoulos was, you know, on the outer -- outer ring of the circle. you don't get more inner circle than michael flynn. he was not only the national security advisor for a month, but more importantly he was in the transition, and he was on the president's plane. he was by the president's side day in and day out during the campaign. and if there was any collusion, which was the origin of this robert mueller investigation, if

there was any collusion between the trump campaign and the russian government because of his role and because of his proximity to the then candidate, he should know and could know. one of the things that i wanted to point out is i was talking tonight to a senior republican on capitol hill who noted that when michael flynn put out his statement today he said that it was for his family and for his country. that struck this source and others on capitol hill saying, okay, what does he think he needs to protect this country from by giving this plea deal? and that is something that raised some questions and maybe even some alarm bells inside the white house. >> can i point out a key difference? the key difference between watergate and what we're witnessing now is that watergate was not about president nixon's family. and the family dynamic here is absolutely crucial and may help explain some of the president's

erratic behavior. but his family, both his son, donald june, and his son-in-law are under serious investigation. they're in the cross hairs of this investigation. and that's very different than watergate because of the personal stakes, not just of the president of the united states and what he knew and when he knew it but those of his children and son-in-law as well. and now we also know that business questions are also under investigation. and that may figure in what this cover up has been about in terms of russia and what we saw today. >> david gergen, carl bernstein, dana bash, thank you very much. coming up a lot more to cover on this. weighing in on what michael flynn's guilty plea signals for the investigation and what could be coming next. if you're burdenn and constipation, and you've tried any number of laxatives, probiotics, and fiber, it could be wearing on you.

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as we mentioned tonight, as you might remember, former fbi director james comey who was heading up the russia investigation was fired in part because, according to the president himself, "this russia thing." he posted on instagram and captioning the photo with a piece of the old testament's book amos, let justice roll down like the waters and righteousless like an ever flowing stream. joining me now, two of our cnn political commentators, ed martin and van jones. so van, the republicans have repeatedly disparaged the entire russian investigation saying there's nothing there, it's going to be wrapping up soon, echoing the president saying there's nothing to see here. the man who advised him on foreign policy, meant he installed as a national security adviser, just copped a plea deal for lying to the fbi. can republicans with a straight

face still claim nothing to see here? >> not if they know anything about the real world? i'm going to tell you something. i spent about ten years of my life doing criminal justice work in oakland. i'm going to make this as plain as possible to the cnn viewers. when one of the main home boys turns snitch, a bunch of people about to go to jail. that's just how that works. so this is a huge deal. it is a big deal. whether it imperils trump himself, pacman, the game -- this is pack mueller. he just got flynn. he's not going to stop. he's got more folks coming. and the fact that he went after flynn, who should be a big fish, this is a big dude, with this little tiny, tiny charge, means that he's got bigger charges coming for bigger fish. this is a huge deal. you cannot pretend it's not. one of your main home boys just turned snitch, all of y'all are in trouble. >> ed, do you agree with that? >> listen, i think of it a

little differently. i think president trump proved yet again, something he's known for his whole career, in fact he's famous for it. this is -- this guy mike flynn, surprisingly to many people who knew him, maybe not according to obama, but he lied to mike pence, he lied about that, and he was fired for his job. and he lied to the fbi, which even the most basic sort of bureaucrat knows you can't lie to the fbi. so president trump fired the guy within 25 days, realizing he couldn't do the job. it's very unfortunate -- >> wait, let me just stop you there. he was informed flynn lied, and you just said 25 days later -- >> no, no, no, i'm sorry i misspoke, anderson. flynn only worked for 25 days as national security adviser -- >> so the white house was informed and two weeks went by and they kept him in the job until he was only fired because "the washington post" had the story.

for a guy who became famous for saying you're fired, he doesn't seem to -- >> the time line, i guess you're right, anderson. we're watching a lot of things across the country when people are accused of something, whether it's matt lauer or anybody else, and there's generally come getting to the bottom of it. when you fire a national security adviser four weeks into your presidency, that's not a very good optic. but i think he did. and van put his finger on the problem. it's a zombie prosecutor who is, if he is going beyond what is normal, which i believe he is, and i said from the beginning, this should not be about what is the lies by flynn, what's happened is this guy, mueller, is trying to overturn an election now because he thinks -- >> so somebody should be able to lie to a federal prosecutor and get away with it? >> no, of course not. but at this point what is the purpose of an ever expanding prosecutor -- i thought van was

going to say this, if you get a federal prosecutor who decides he doesn't like you, you got a lot of trouble, and it doesn't matter what the truth is. he'll find out you filed -- >> van, is that what's happening here? >> listen, it's amazing to me to hear conservatives concerned about prosecutorial abuse and sometimes prosecutors have too much power. we've been screaming about that in the hood for years. hold on a second. i don't want for us to go with this idea that flynn's this kind of minor guy. they got rid of him. nobody was closer to trump than flynn for the whole campaign. he was closer to trump than melania. he couldn't have been closer to trump if his last name was trump. this was a close, close insider the whole time. and after the election, he apparently is, based on his own confession, tried to set up an illegal kind of shadow government in violation of the logan act to implement a program

with the russians. why? he just suddenly woke up and thought that was a good idea? and then afterwards, the president's only obsession, the only person he's loyal to in the world is flynn, begging them to leave flynn alone to the fbi. there is something going on that is big. and the idea that he's going to spill his soul, spill his guts, already has, should have people very nervous. you can pretend, oh, he's an obama official, and they got rid of him. that's not reality. >> i thought that van was going around trying to find common ground. i agree with you, and as a conservative like me and rand paul and others, i have said that prosecutors are out of control and i said that about mueller and comey from the beginning. that's common ground. and van jones, you said it before, nobody thinks that the election was moved by the russians, that the russian investigation is not a serious thing. so now we do have bad actors, i agree. mike flynn has violated the law.

he should go away for it. but at this point, we're tying up the government -- >> it seems like the president thinks like the russia investigation is not a real thing. i believe he said that repeatedly, no? >> i think he says what most of us say, which is it's a prosecutor in search of a problem. the election was not changed -- >> no, he says it's a hoax, it's fake news. we've got to leave it there. we'll be talking about this for days to come. ed martin, thank you. van jones, as well. up next, a reaction from congress. we'll hear from members and richard blumenthal ahead. there are 130 million girls around the world who are not in school today. girls are not in school because of economic issues and they have to work. there's early child marriage, there's war and conflict. at the malala fund we help girls stay in school. there are some really amazing people around the world doing incredible work. the malala fund invests in education champions who work in the community and do advocacy and pave the way so that girls can actually go to school.

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the president not only repeatedly referred to the russia investigation as fake news, a witch-hunt, a rouse and a hoax but also according to a reporting in "the new york times," pressured top senate republicans to end the investigation into the russian meddling in the election. given today's news, there's no doubt the news is real and robert mueller's investigation continues. joining me is senator richard blumenthal. you called today's guilty plea by michael flynn the tip of the iceberg for not only him but for president trump. can you explain what you mean? >> this guilty plea, an acknowledgement of criminal culpability, is a shattering moment for the trump administration. the reason is, there is an abundance of information that

michael flynn can share about the campaign and its possible collusion with russia. about the transition team and the conversations with russians before president-elect trump took the oath. and afterward, while he was the president's chief national security adviser, and it goes to russian collusion and obstruction of justice. remember that jim comey was fired because he wouldn't drop his investigation of michael flynn. now that investigation has produced this criminal plea and it will lead to more evidence besides the firing of obstruction of justice. >> do you think it will lead directly to president trump? >> it will lead directly to the oval office, certainly to people at the top levels of the white house. and it implicates president trump certainly. whether there's enough evidence to take further action involving the president is still to be determined.

we have a distance to go. but here's what is absolutely certain. this moment is the kind of watergate moment. what did he know and when did he know it? and michael flynn has very direct credible knowledge and he has to tell it all, tell it truthfully and completely for this deal to stick. >> the new cnn reporting that president trump's son-in-law, jared kushner, obviously was directing flynn to contact the russian ambassador, i'm wondering what your reaction to that is. it does run counter to the white house saying, that michael flynn was more of a freelancer. and the other question is, does jared -- did jared kushner take his orders from the president directly? >> that's a key question, anderson, because clearly from

the special prosecutor's statement of the offense, his formal charging and plea document, michael flynn was reporting, he was accountable, and he was directed by senior officials in the transition. one of them apparently jared kushner, the other possibly katey mcfarland. no questions that the transition people was involved. so your question is not only directly relevant to jared kushner, but also to vice president michael pence, because he was very closely involved in the transition team, and that's one of the reasons why he was written a letter before this guilty plea, asking for facts from his office about what he knew about flynn's conflicts of interest and potential illegality. >> in terms of the senate judiciary investigation, what does today's >> the judiciary committee has to move forward with legislation that will protect the special prosecutor against any kind of political interference or firing. and that legislation, which i've

introduced is pending before the committee, it's before the committee. there have been hearings. there should be a markup. it should be passed. so there's no question that the special prosecutor will be protected against trump's threats and bullying. second, the judiciary committee should now issue subpoenas for jared kushner, donald trump jr., testimony to be presented under oath in public and all the documents that may be relevant. the judiciary committee has delayed inexcusable in my view, its continuing investigation into obstruction of justice directly relevant to the plea today. >> senator richard blumenthal, i appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, we'll get reaction to michael flynn's guilty plea, from someone who served alongside him in the army and knows him well. breaking news, also on the tax bill the republicans say they now have the votes. they're trying to get it done tonight. an update on that next. (avo) when you have type 2 diabetes, you manage your a1c, but you also have a higher risk of heart attack or stroke.

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back to our breaking news tonight. former national security adviser michael flynn's guilty plea in the russia probe and the resulting fallout. lieutenant general mark hurtling served in the army with michael flynn, and knows him well. he joins me now. general, i want to know what you make of his guilty plea. >> two things. the emotions kind of go back and forth between embarrassed for the army, because this was a guy at the senior ranks. there's only about 20 or so three-star generals, the same rank i held in the army, and mike flynn was one of them. because he's in that position, he's given special trust and confidence by the government and the soldiers he leads. so the first part is being embarrassed by what happened today, and the second part had to do with the emotion of being furious. when he came out with his statement and started off by saying, hey, i've served 33

years honorably and served in combat for five years, while that's interesting, it's also not important given the situation he's in right now. he went against the constitution of the united states. general officers, soldiers are held to higher standards. we are taught throughout our career to honor the values of things like duty, honor, country, integrity, respect, loyalty, selfless service, and america expects that of its general officer ranks because they give us their sons and daughters. to defend the country. so when you have an individual who lies, who serves one individual as opposed to the constitution of the country, it truthfully makes me a little bit furious. >> there's no small bit of irony when it was general flynn who was leading chants about "lock her up." and i know we talked about that during the campaign, and i remember reading -- there was a

lot of reporting from military people who had served with him who were kind of surprised by the role he took in the campaign, the public role, and things like chanting, lock her up. >> there's a debate, it's a continuous and ongoing debate been the military about how much do retired officers or ncos get involved in politics. it's one thing to support a candidate or speak highly of a candidate or do programs like some people have done. i've attempted to be apolitical on this program, you know that, but sometimes you get sucked in one way or the other because of action of political candidates. in this case michael flynn went over the top. that was the first indicator that something was desperately wrong with this guy. and i think it proved a lot of people -- it generated quite a bit of discussion in both the retired and the active corps about this individual being

so vehement on stage, and one could say, unconstitutional in the way he approached this. >> what happened to michael flynn? he did have -- correct me if i'm wrong, he had a distinguished career. the work he did in afghanistan with general crystal. what happened to him? >> i don't want to say. i have my own thoughts on that, but i just think that something went wrong toward the end of his career, the demons got ahold of him. and for one reason or another, hubris and vengeance took over. there was a great movie, "saving private ryan" and tom hangs grabs him at the end of the movie and says, earn think. he's talking about service to the country. doing things every day that soldiers will be proud of you. and that's something that for whatever reason, and it's

unfortunate because mike flynn did have a good career to a point, it's unfortunate now because he didn't earn it. he stopped earning it, and that's really sad for many of us that wore the cloth of the country. >> general hurtling, appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. other breaking news out of washington tonight. there are big moves in the senate on the gop tax plan a bill that wasn't even completely written as of a few hours ago. phil mattingly joins from capitol hill with the latest. >> reporter: anderson, senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell now on the floor. it looks like the process is about ready to get kicked off. it's been a remarkable day. senate republicans actually have the votes for this plan this morning. what they didn't have was a bill. they spent the last eight hours trying to draft a bill to match up with the deals they made with republican senators to get the votes to pass this plan. now, put this into perspective. this is a historic moment, the senate passing a tax overhaul. something that hasn't been done in 31 years, moving a step closer to a major domestic achievement for president trump.

and yet, for hours throughout the course of the day, they haven't actually had final language on what they agreed to. senate democrats attacked this idea. they obtained a draft iteration of this bill that had hand-written notes on the side of it, making changes by handwriting, waving it on the senate floor. that's the attack line right now. here is the reality. anderson, republicans have the vote. senator jeff flake came on board because of an expensing provision. susan collins came on board because she got what she wanted on the state and local tax deduction. senator ron johnson is now happy with the pass-through legislation. they have 51 senators in the affirmative. all they need to do is vote on it. one more interesting element throughout the course of the day, if you were paying attention last night, this looked like it might actually stall out. the reason, senator bob corker, the issue, deficits. well republican leaders made the clear calculation today. they had the votes to just not care anymore about senator bob corker. they tried to bring him along,

his issues were maintained. corker will opposite this bill but it will not sink it. the deals they may with other senators put them in position to get this passed. the real question now is when and perhaps what's actually going to be in that final piece of legislation, anderson. >> phil mattingly, thank you so much. thanks for watching "360." time to hand things over to jake tapper, in washington. the "lead" starts now. good evening and welcome to the special prime time edition of the lead. i'm jake tapper. we're going to start with today's breaking news. tonight a source close to the white house tells cnn that the president and the white house are in a bubble when they should be in a state of red alert. this after a bombshell in the russia investigation today. michael flynn, the president's fired national security advisor and influential official in both the trump white house and the trump campaign today pleaded guilty in fede