all the electric cars and -- >> thanks for joining us today. "new day" starts right now. mark short joining us. we'll see you tomorrow. no collusion. there's been absolutely no collusion. >> the president tweeted that he fired him because he had lied to the fbi. that ups the ante. ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril, i would be careful if i were you, mr. president. >> what we are beginning to see is the putting together of a case of obstruction of justice. >> we're very close to the finish line. >> this was swamp 101. the bill was being hand drafted. lots of provisions were being included for special interests. >> every single letter or every

single page, but have i read every aspect of that bill before it was fused together? yes. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "new day". this is monday, december 4th, 6:00 in new york. president trump undermining the credibility of the fbi. the president launching an extraordinary assault on top law enforcement agency saying its reputation is in "tatters." this as michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is now cooperating in rocket mueller's investigation. his lawyer said he is the one who wrote the controversial tweet. former fbi director james comey asked him to go easy on flynn. some say this amounts to

obstruction of justice. >> the topic of what trump knows to be true is also in the news on a very different topic. former "access hollywood" host billy bush says in a new op ed in the "new york times" that trump knows it is him on that infamous tape. is and if the president is indulge anything he revisionist history by questioning the authenticity of the same. bush says he believes the women accusing trump of the is sexual misconduct. but progress on the legislative agenda would be a big boost. now trump is one step closer to his first win. his fate on taxes rests in the house senate conference. can they agree on a bill before the deadline? we have it all covered. let's begin with cnn's joe johns at the white house. joe >> reporter: good morning, chris. the president or others with access to his twitter account seemingly wading into dangerous waters over the weekend with

what could be construed as a damaging admission just days after his former national security adviser pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, along with a slap in the face at the agents of the nation's top law enforcement agency. president trump once again attacking the credibility of his own fbi, calling the bureau tainted and very dishonest. and declaring that after years under former director james comey, its reputation is in tatters. the president seizing on reporting that a senior fbi agent was removed from the special counsel's team last summer after internal messages were discovered that could be interpreted as showing a bias for hillary clinton. the head of the fbi agents association firing back saying, fbi special agents put their lives on the line to protect the american public, suggesting otherwise is simply false. comey and former deputy attorney general sally yates coming to the bureau's defense with yates

declaring, the only thing in tatters is the president's respect for the rule of law. the dedicated men and women of the fbi deserve better. >> what has been shown is no collusion. no collusion. there's been absolutely -- there's been absolutely no collusion. >> reporter: president trump attempting to down play the guilty plea from fired national security adviser michael flynn before this damning tweet posted on saturday from his account asserting that he had to fire general flynn because he lied on the vice president and the fbi. the tweet suggests the president knew flynn lied to the fbi when he allegedly asked comey to drop the bureau's investigation into flynn, a conversation comey testified handled the day after flynn was fired. >> that's why i understood him saying is drop any investigation connected to flynn's account of his conversations with the russians. >> reporter: the president denying comey's account. mr. trump's private attorney

saying he drafted the problematic tweet that could help special counsel mueller in an obstruction of justice case. >> it raises a whole series of questions. you will hear much more from the special prosecutor. >> reporter: dianne feinstein saying the senate judiciary committee is building an obstruction of justice case against the president, citing mr. trump's firing of comey. >> it is my belief that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> reporter: this has the potential to be an important week in the russia investigation. the president's son, donald trump jr., expected to testify on wednesday. today the president flies off to utah where he is expected to announce he's shrinking the is size is of some national parks

there. chris and alisyn. >> okay, joe, thank you very much. let's talk about all of this. we want to bring in cnn correspondent karoun and special agent and senior lecturer at yale law school, asha. let's start with the problematic tweet, as joe just described it. this is the one over the weekend that is now raising all sorts of eyebrows. i had to fire general flynn because he lied to the vice president and the fbi. he had pled guilty to those lies. it is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. there was nothing to hide. then the president's lawyer said when it causes a firestorm of, uh- uh-oh, he knew that flynn had done this, his lawyer says, no, i wrote it. so first you have to believe that the president has a ghostwriter for his twitter account. and, second, what do you think legally this tweet leads to.

>> right. so the best story they can come up with is that the president's own lawyer framed him on twitter. that doesn't actually speak highly of his legal counsel. as a legal matter, he adopted it. it's on his twitter account. mueller is not going to rely just on his tweet to make his case. he's not going to put the tweet down and say i rest my case. what the tweet highlights is that if the president knew at the time he asked comey to drop the investigation that flynn lied to the fbi, that significantly makes the case of obstruction. and now mueller has flynn. flynn knows what the president knew, and he can say it in his own words. he can say it on the stand if he needs to. that is one of the i think many values that flynn has to mueller right now. >> the president can start or stop any investigation that he wants.

he can remove the head of the fbi whenever he wants. how is it obstruction of justice to do what he is allowed to do anyway, which is go to comey and say i like flynn. i don't think it's that important. if you can get rid of it, that's great. the president, to be clear, said he didn't say that. comey was strong in his testimony that he did say that. it was so upsetting that he wrote the memo and all that. >> right. >> how is the president able to obstruct something that he has the ability to do. >> what i point out is, yes, the president can fire his -- the people that he is appointed. however, he does have a constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. he cannot fire people based on a motive of not allowing the laws to be executed. it wasn't just he fired comey

because he didn't do a good job. he did not want the fbi to pursue this investigation to get to whatever they were getting to. that's why if trump had any personal thing to gain or lose from that investigation, if he knew of anything illegal at the time that he made that decision to fire comey, all of these go to what is called corrupt intent and can help prove that it was actually obstruction and not just a personnel decision. >> karoun, let's talk about the fbi. and the president publicly demeaning them and undermining them. here are the tweets from the weekend. these were yesterday. report, anti trump fbi led clinton e-mail probe. now it all starts to make sense, he says. then after years of comey, with the phony ask dishonest clinton investigation and more, running the fbi, its reputation is in tatters, worst in history! so where is attorney general jeff sessions on all of this?

this is his purview. what is he supposed to say about the president undermining our criminal justice system? >> he's like this. >> it is an awkward situation for him to be in, right. >> that's where he is. >> we have yet to hear a declarative statement from him. this is all stuff that he recused himself from anything involving or related to the campaign. this is all mixed up together basically. the president's tweets are in part a reaction to some of the stories about the investigators on the clinton probing and the flynn news. he's kind of keeping his head down even though a fairly major unit is being insulted on a regular basis over the weekend by what the president has been tweeting. >> go ahead. >> no, i was just going to say i'm not sure we will hear sessions necessarily come out and try to start to iron things out unless this becomes

something that is just a structural complaint. right now everything about the fbi is tied up in this russia probe. >> this is, you know, what he does. this is not so interesting to you. because this is just if you attack him, he attacks you. it doesn't matter if you're in institution or with an ice cream cart. but in terms of legal analysis, what seems to be coming out now is that flynn had been assumed to be rogue. this was him. this was his lobbying. this was his past. these were his contacts. now it seems he was not rogue. that he was in constant communication at least around this subject meeting or contact as we call them now with the russian ambassador. he was talking to people. he was telling them what they were doing. there seemed to be an effort to control the investigation by the trump team. the relevance? >> the relevance, one, is this

is in direct contradiction to what everyone in the white house has been saying. if any of them have stated the contrary when they have been interviewed by the fbi, then they could be in very hot water. >> so if i say, listen, i didn't know what flynn was doing and then you have an e-mail saying flynn is sending it to me and showing me that i had reason to know. >> right. if the fbi came to jared kushner and said when you're at mar-a-lago did flynn report back to you with ambassador kislyak. and if he says, i don't know, then that's a lie. we know he not only got the reports back but he was directing them. so is more broadly what i think this says is these people were all on the same page. we have too many people now. papadopoulos coordinating with the russians. this in the transition. all of this will come into place when we see how they all fit

together. >> karoun, next topic, the "access hollywood" tape. billy bush, host of "access hollywood", has not been public since being fired. and now he is. he has put an out op ed in the "new york times" about it. and what prompted this is hearing the reports that president trump is trying to backtrack and trying to revise history and trying to say we don't think that was my voice on the "access hollywood" tape. so here's what billy bush said this weekend. he said it. tkpwre grab 'em by the blank. of course he said it. and we laughed long, without a single doubt that this was a hypothetical hot air from america's highest-rated bloviator. every single one of us assumed we were listening to a crass standup account. >> the person who has paid with

his career. >> right. the person who actually suffered the con questions of this coming out into the open. that is not the president. that is billy bush. quite the op ed. he details the accusations that are in line with what he was claiming to be able to do on that bus and believes him. he is not a trump supporter, was not a trump supporter. this is certainly somebody who was there and a witness to this conversation trying to set the record straight. at this point the president is trying to equivocate or take himself out of the limelight focused on many members of both parties. he is dishing insults about the democrats who have been accused of committing sexual harassment, sexual assault, but trying to excuse himself because everybody is looking at his past too. and billy bush coming out and saying, huh-uh, i was there. it's a knock against what the

president has been trying to do. >> but it is a little bit of a layup here. why are we talking about billy bush? here's why. what he was doing to the fbi this weekend and the justice department. it is in authentic. if it goes against me, it's bad. the same thing he's doing with this tape. it is absurd on its face. it is is trump on trump. but it is a tactic of his. maybe it's not real. maybe it's not even me. this is the same as the point of purpose, delegitimize that which is dangerous to him. >> more broadly, this goes to his lack of voracity. you see this pattern where he will switch his position at will, as you said, based on how it is going to benefit him in the moment. and this -- his truthfulness -- his lack of truthfulness will have consequences.

ultimately, whether in his legal troubles, whether it's comey, flynn or anyone else making a statement contrary to him, they are going to be asked, who do you want to believe? he is not someone easily believable. >> it is not fishy. people in your part of the world said if he were ever to talk to mueller, the president, the idea that they wouldn't bring stuff up like this, they can ask you anything and it goes to your credibility. just to see what you will lie about and what you won't. just because it seems completely irrelevant, you never know. >> one thing his lawyer should never let him do is talk to mueller. we are going to talk to one of president trump's accusers. she said mr. trump forcibly kissed her in 2005 and more. we'll talk to her. and senate republicans have passed their sweeping tax bill in the senate.

but we will see something they rarely see. can they actually bang out a deal and a huge win for the president by christmas? timing is everything. we discuss next. [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours.

so gistarting at $40 a line why wea gfor four lines.goodure. as the network it's on. circuits? so the neathat's why more people is insideacount on ihere you go. the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try parodontax toothpaste. ♪ ♪ ♪ohhhhhh, ou! guess what i just got? uh! ♪i used to be spellbound hello again. ♪i used to be spellbound hi. ♪i used to be spellbound that's a big phone. ♪in your arms. [screams] ah, my phone. ♪you built the flame ♪that warms my heart, ♪but lying and cheating ♪has torn us apart ♪and i'm moving on.

essential for vinyl, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an "unjection™". xeljanz xr. a once daily pill for adults with moderate to severe ra for whom methotrexate did not work well. xeljanz xr can reduce pain, swelling and further joint damage, even without methotrexate. xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. don't start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. your doctor should perform blood tests before you start

and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. needles. a must for vinyl. but for you, one pill a day may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz xr. an "unjection™". i'm the one clocking in when you're clocking out. sensing and automatically adjusting to your every move. does your bed do that? i'm the new sleep number 360 smart bed. let's meet at a sleep number store. senate republicans's tax plan headed for reconciliation with the house. lawmakers have significant differences to overcome and facing a looming government

shutdown this week. how is it going today? >> reporter: it's good. you're right. republicans managed to pass a massive tax overhaul in the wee hours of saturday morning. but that was just the first in many steps ahead. there are many obstacles that the senate will have to overcome. they have two different tax bills. the republicans in the senate maintain seven individual tax brackets. the house bill only has four. the senate also keeps large parts of the alternative minimum tax while the house repeal it. the senate managed to repeal the individual mandate in their tax bill. but the house kept the individual mandate in theirs. and there are still differences between the estate tax. the republicans in the senate don't manage to repeal the estate tax. instead they double the kpepblgdz. important to remember that moving forward here the president has said he wants to

make sure that the tax bill is signed into law before the new year. it doesn't give republicans much time. they face a massive spending deadline at the end of this week. mitch mcconnell has assured members of the press and members of capitol hill that there won't be a government shutdown. but there is still room for negotiations ahead. and there's only five days. so not much time. >> the last factor the biggest. there are only five days. appreciate the reporting. let's bring baca reason. and joining us is policy analyst david drucker. assuming he wrote it. this may be another one he wants to put on someone else. democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive tax cuts is why we need republican roy moore to win in alabama. we need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, border wall, military pro life, va, judges, 2nd amendment and

more. no to jones, a sphroesy/schumer puppet. barring aside what kind of person aside, what do you make of this tactic by the president? isn't it hard to blame the democrats on this? they are really pretty much irrelevant in the process. amendments get shot down because they don't have the numbers. what could they be doing other than opposing it because they're not part of it? >> they were sidelined pretty much from the get-go. you saw that playing out last week because you had a scramble to rewrite parts of the bill. corker was pushing back. he didn't end up voting for the senate bill either. the images with the handwritten notes and side margins was going around the internet. everybody can see how rushed it was at the last minute. they don't like the policy to begin with, but they don't like that they were left out.

so this becomes just a question of, as you said, how can they? the president's tweet takes this into a different category. the things he listed about roy moore being good for the gop. sure, maybe he will be an addition. mitch mcconnell said he would probably be under ethics review the second he is seated. and also there is the matter of are we sure roy moore would be a vote on the gop for these financial matters. it is interesting that the president didn't list that. the tax bill is -- but it is for that tweet. it is is not one of the things the president said. >> i don't want to go too far down the roy moore avenue here. but, david, this is an endorsement. he said we need republican roy floor to win in alabama. that is an endorsement. >> yeah. he just endorsed him by name

after endorsing him without using his name a couple weeks ago. he sees roy moore in a category of himself. the idea that trump was ever going to get involved in pushing roy moore out was i always thought fantasy. the president himself is always complaining about rigged elections. so things like that never really made since. karoun is correct in pointing out roy moore is not a guaranteed vote. he would have imposed the last in car a nation to repeal and replace obamacare. luther strange, the man defeated in the primary in september, supported it. so these are not as easy as the president is saying. it's not surprising that democrats oppose the tax bill en masse. it is not policy that tends to fit in the democratic world view. and number two, this is political but works for both

sides, when you help the majority govern, voters tend to reward the majority not the minority. we are in a majority project. nothing of what we saw the last few days is surprising. >> but he is fighting his own on this. he is not fighting the democrats. they don't have the power and wherewithal. this is all divisions within the republican party. so mitch mcconnell had been uncharacteristically strong in saying roy moore, i think he should step aside. now he is saying to the people to alabama should decide. the irony of course is roy moore allegations are very troubling to people. they're not as bad as those against the president. roy moore has two women who accused him of assault. the president had more than that. let's remember the majority of women with roy moore was saying he wanted to date me when i was 16, which was legal. >> sure. but one of them was 14. >> two --

>> no. there was the assault assault. >> the suit was withdrawn. that helped greatly. but it is interesting, karoun, this we are dealing with this imbalance on these stories on what to do. but at the end of the day, they want roy moore in their allegations. >> the initial reaction was maybe it would be more detriment than good. it does matter that the president set the tone on this. the president has said, as david pointed out, he endorsed him without mentioning his name. and this is an endorsement. when we were talking about a year ago when trump was the candidate and the gop came out and said after the "access hollywood" tape many members said i don't know if i like this. i don't endorse. he should pull out. he did it, and he won. now he is throwing his weight in the roy moore game the same way. it is like mitch mcconnell and

all the other republicans who said, no, we have to find some other solution because this isn't good enough for our party. they are now saying, oh, okay, we'll let it go and see what plays out. the president, who was very quiet about this at the outset, we will see people defer to that. >> mcconnell is in a difficult position. they do not like republican establishment in particular alabama republicans and they don't like mitch mcconnell. if roy moore ends up in the senate, he will be a magnet for the microphones. this is going to be a very dangerous issue for republicans in 2018. and it helps muddy the water with democrats who have their own problems, not figuring out what to do with al franken and john conyers. all of a sudden they're in the

same soup and it's a problem they are going to have to figure out. >> david, karoun, thank you very much. >> it seems pretty clear at the end of the day they need the numbers. you know, in all of this talk, they put something before the party, you're getting your answer. coming up in our next hour, we'll talk to white house legislative affairs director marc short about what's going on with these tax cuts and why the american people should want them. >> that will be very interesting to hear him explain him. meantime, cvs in a huge deal to buy aetna. ♪shostakovich playing ♪

from our family to yours... may all your wishes come true this holiday season.

swho live within five miles of custyour business?-54, like these two... and that guy. or maybe you want to reach women, ages 18 to 34, who are interested in fitness... namaste.

whichever audience you're looking for, we'll find them we're the finders. we work here at comcast spotlight, and we have the best tools for getting your advertising message out there. anywhere, any way your audience watches. consider them found. witness katy perry. witness katy perry become a legal witness. witness katy perry and left shark. or a card shark. grandma? witness katy perry work. witness katy perry firework. witness katy perry swish. witness katy perry... aaaaaaw look at that dog! katy perry: with music videos and behind the scenes footage, xfinity lets you witness all things me.

this is a big story. it would be the biggest merger of its kind ever. drugstore giant cvs going to buy health insurer aetna, $69 billion. even more if you include the debt. if approved, it would be the largest health insurance deal in history. it would revamp the health care industry. not a done deal. not even close. it will need to be approved by anti-trust regulators. it remains to be seen if president trump or the justice department will respond. and the "new york times" reports three men have come forward using levine of sexually abusing them decades ago. the met says it has hired investigators to determine if the accusations are true. levine stepped down as the met's music director in 2016.

cnn has reached out and we will kwrufp date the story when we have it. the college football playoff field is set but not without controversy of course. what do you see? >> well, chris, the big debate came down to whether the playoff committee would put a two loss ohio state and one loss alabama. 'bama was unequivocally better than the buckeyes. so clemson will play 'bama. they will play in the sugar bowl. on the other side you have baker mayfield taking on georgia and the rose bowl new year's day. you wouldn't have known it if you looked at how they were acting on the field. tom brady just gets into it with josh mcdaniels after he told brady he missed a wide open receiver. after an interception,

gronkowski will hit white with a wwe style elbow drop. white left the game and was placed in concussion protocol. gronk was flagged for the play but not ejected. he will be hearing from the league office soon and possibly even facing suspension. >> thank you so much. president trump slashing the size of two national monuments. cnn's bill weir visited them to find out why critics are up in arms and why supporters could not be happier. ♪ when heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast relief in every bite. crunchy outside. chewy inside. tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites.

we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers,

it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? full-bodied. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪ ♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪

president trump is expected

to announce a plan to shrink two national monuments. bill weir visited them and has more on what's next. >> reporter: let me show you the epicenter of the biggest environmental fight of the day. yep. there they are. see those two beauts? those are the bears ears. but they are just a tiny piece of this huge fight. bears ears national monument is 1.35 million acres. that is over 2,000 square miles of wild western vistas holding a potential fortune in oil, gas, uranium. underneath, tens of thousands of native american ruins. ♪ to folks like mark merry boy, these sites are worth more than

any oil. they hold the spirits of loved ones. >> they live among us, just like you and i. >> these are your neighbors? >> yes. >> the person who carved this art 1200 years ago signed all of their work with an earth paw. equally striking are the modern bullet holes. just one sign of the tension that goes back to the first mormon wagon trains. >> they didn't want to work with us. in fact, one of them said you guys lost a war. you have no business talking about that process. >> for generations, natives sought protection for this land. it wasn't until the five tribes put aside their differences and lobbied the feds that they got their wish. weeks before leaving office, barack obama declared bears ears off limits to any new drilling or mining. and while some cheered the prospect of a new tourist economy, others saw it as pure tyranny.

>> it felt kind of like a sucker-punch. i do feel that. and it hasn't felt right for a year. >> phil lyman is one of the trump supporters who cheered the president's decision to shrink bears ears and grand escalante. they point out that utah has four other parks and monuments. they want to control their own destiny. >> by designating a mondayment, you're using a tool that will bring haordz of people to a place that is very sensitive. there is nothing that we want to unprotect. there's 13 layers of protection on artifacts and species and wildlife and vegetation. >> there are hoopholes in those rules that you can drive an oil on rig through. >> josh ewing came from nebraska

to climb rocks. he formed an advocacy group and is building a visitor center with whatever donations he can raise online. >> if this were anyplace else other than southern utah, it would have been protected as a national park a long time ago. because of the politics of utah, this place is still a debate. >> well, i think the only thing this administration understands is lawsuits. >> the head of patagonia says he's ready for a long, legal fight. >> we're losing this planet. and we have an evil government. not just the federal government, but the whacko politicians out of utah and places. it's evil. and i'm not going to stand back and just let evil win. >> what's his net worth? a billion dollars, two billion dollars. you have patagonia waving the

flag in environmentalism while he is completely exploiting the outdoors for industrialized tourism. >> if these rocks could talk, they would tell of centuries of bloody contact. this is your land. but bears ears is a reminder that how it is used all comes down to how you vote. bill weir, cnn, near bluff, utah. an interesting look how the people who are there see the change that is being put upon them. our thanks to bill weir for the piece. so president trump is once again launching an extraordinary assault on the fbi. does his attorney general agree with him that the bureau is in tatters? we're going to talk to former director of national intelligence about what it means when a president attacks the institutions of our democracy, next.

we're on a mission to show drip coffee drinkers, it's time to wake up to keurig. wakey! wakey! rise and shine! oh my gosh! how are you? well watch this. i pop that in there. press brew. that's it. so rich. i love it. that's why you should be a keurig man! full-bodied. are you sure you're describing the coffee and not me? full-bodied. the toothpaste that helps prevent bleeding gums. if you spit blood when you brush or floss you may have gum problems and could be on the journey to much worse. help stop the journey of gum disease. try parodontax toothpaste. ♪ [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours.

talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. it feels good to be back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

president trump taking on the fbi again, saying it is in tatters. this comes after michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi, of course, and is now cooperating with special counsel. the tactic is obvious. this is what the president of the united states does. he attacks things that he is threatened by. what is its effect? let's discuss. we have national security analyst james clapper. good to have you, sir. we have a number of items to get your take on. let's start with this.

the president doesn't like what's going on with the fbi, so he says it is terrible. it's the worst. it's in tatters. but don't worry, i'll fix it. >> well, this is part of what is come to be i think a predictable pattern for president trump to attack something that poses a threat to him, as you indicated. apart from the ridiculous substance of the charge. the fbi in the world. it is not in tatters. it is a superb organization with tremendous men and women and are dedicated, many of whom put their lives on the line every day for the safety and security

of this country. but regrettably, this seems to be the common practice of president trump. >> do you think the attorney general has a duty to address the comments that the new head of the fbi has a duty to address them? >> i most certainly do. the longer there is silence, that in fers acquiescence or agreement with what the president said. and i think it's important. not just for the attorney general but also the leader of the fbi, ray, to say something about this. the special agents organization already has, which for them is a pretty unusual thing. >> well, look. it is a tough spot. no question. they would have to contradict the president. they are working for him. he may well come after them. at the end of the day they work for the american people. they are there for the

constitution. let me get your take on another emerging issue. what do you make of the new facts and circumstances surrounding michael flynn's activities? >> while very, very dramatic and quite profound and didn't come as a big surprise. obviously mike flynn is not a coffee boy. if anybody has insight into developments particularly as they pertain to russia during a campaign, during the transition, at least in the first 24 days of the transition is mike flynn. so i think this is a very significant development in terms of its meaning and potential implications for others surrounding the president. >> k.t. mack far land was

national security adviser. the issue of was flynn rogue, was he acting alone. that has been what has been explained by those around the president, that this guy was a one off. she said on december 29th, a transition adviser to mr. trump, wrote in an e-mail that the sanctions that were announced hours before by the obama administration in retaliation for election meddling were aimed at discrediting mr. trump's victory. the sanctions could also make it much harder to or mr. trump to ease tensions with russia. there is some speculation whether k.t. macfarland is saying russia helped trump.

let me know your take on that. the larger issue he was in communication with them. they were sharing communications from flynn. he was not a one off. >> i agree with you, chris. the statement is taken out of context. i believe the larger issue is mike flynn was not operating all by himself unilaterally without direction from others in the trump camp. >> again, that doesn't make anything illegal on its face. as you well know, mr. clapper, and you teach the rest of us, it is is about what story is being told to authorities. if that story is inconsistent with the facts, then even if the behavior wasn't legal on its face, how you explain it or how you deceive about it becomes just as relevant. mr. clapper, thank you very much for joining us. appreciate it, as always.

>> thanks, chris. president trump just tweeted about the republican tax bill and he endorsed roy moore. a top white house person here next. ♪ ♪ give a little bit ♪ ♪ give a little bit... -hello. ♪ give a little bit... ♪ ... of your love to me oh, haha. ♪ there's so much that we need to share ♪ ♪ so send a smile and show that you care ♪

♪ i'll give a little bit of my love to you ♪

this president has been obsessed with this investigation, always saying there's nothing there. each week another shoe drops. >> there is no evidence of collusion. but if there was, flynn would know whether he effectively asked him to drop this case. >> the firing of the director comey is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the russia investigation. that's obstruction of justice. >> we followed the regular order. we didn't do anything that you could foul afoul. >> if that is regular order, i would hate to see anything else.

>> largest tax decrease in the history of our country. >> the very people they say they are going to help are going to get hit pretty hard. >> this is "new day" with chris cuomo and alisyn camerota. >> good morning. welcome to your "new day". president trump trying to undermine the credibility of the fbi. the president launching an extraordinary assault on the nation's top law enforcement agency saying its reputation is in tatters. this comes of course after fired national security adviser michael flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi and is now cooperating with bob mueller's russia investigation. >> the president's lawyer now says it was he who wrote a controversial tweet which says trump knew flynn lied to the fbi before he fired flynn. some democrats say this amounts to obstruction of justice. all of this unfolding as president trump is one step closer to his first