>> jenna: all right. see you back here in an hour. "outnumbered" starts now. >> megan: flynn is out. president trump will have to find a new national security adviser following last night's stunning resignation of michael flynn. the retired lieutenant general stepping down after reports that he misled white house officials about his contacts with russia. this is "outnumbered. i'm sandra smith." here today harris faulkner, megan mccain is here and former deputy press secretary for the state department, marie hart is here. >> jumped the gun on me. happy valentine's day. >> host is outnumbered. good to have you. >> glad to be here. lot of news.

>> you brought some sparkle pink for valentine's day. girl after my own heart. i love them. so much going on, let's get right to it. president trump's national security adviser michael flynn resigning after apologizing to president trump and vice president pence for misleading them and other white house officials on his calls with russia's ambassador to the u.s. the vice president after being briefed by flynn had said in television interviews that flynn did not discuss sanctions with the ambassador. flynn later admitting the issue may have come up. earlier on fox and friends, kellyanne conway on why flynn's situation became untenable. >> he was having any number of calls and that in the end he felt he had misled or misrepresented all of the facts to the president and vice president. and for that he was enormously and deeply sorry. that was the lynch pin here. he either forgot, couldn't fully recall, or out wardly misled the

vice president and others when he was characterizing a conversation he had with the russian ambassador. i think the issue, the situation became increasingly unsusta unsustainable and he decided to resign. >> the white house was warned last month flynn had lied about the extent of conversations with the russian envoy and was potentially vulnerable to russian blackmail. here's democratic senator bob casey. >> not a good time for our country when this is happening because you have a national security adviser who is resigning in the most adverse and difficult of circumstances. unfortunately for the country, it's not over because we've got to have some kind of investigation to find out not only what happened with general flynn but what the white house knew and when they knew it. >> son roberts joins us live from the white house. you're reporting. you've been reporting on this

all night almost as midnight last night. you sent out everyone involved reportedly feels badly about what happened. where do we stand now? >> well, the white house, sandra, would like for this to be over with and move on to the next phase. looks like this is far from over. as you saw there with bob casey, the democrats don't want to let this go. they don't just want the head of mike flynn. they want to know what was the substance, what was the context of the telephone conversation that he was having with the russian ambassador? now, the white house would like for this all to just be about, no, it wasn't the content of the telephone conversation. that wasn't the problem. the big problem was that the national security adviser misled the vice president when he said he didn't talk about sanctions or didn't remember having a conversation about sanctions, and then the vice president went out there and reiterated that on national television. don't forget, as you pointed out, the department of justice warned the white house last month that there was potentially damaging information in the transcripts of these telephone

calls, things that the russians could use against flynn, potentially against the white house. speaker of the house, paul ryan, this morning said the white house was right to get rid of flynn. listen to what he said. >> 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 adviser misleading the president and other. >> reporter: on the left you have robert harward deputy commander at cent.com, a navy seal. he was also the honor man during buds training. the navy seal candidate who is just so inspiring that that person inspires all the other navy s.e.a.l.s. to pull together and make it through when they wouldn't think they could. so the white house trained him as an inspirational character to be the next national security

adviser. general petraeus in the mix as well as general kellogg. they'd like to get somebody in place by the end of this week. don't know if they will be able to do that. democrats will try to continue to knock them off balance. >> all right, john roberts, thank you. we'll come back to you as you have news. maria, i want to start off with you. this is something you are familiar with. ins and outs of communication and the transmission of information as you have it. kellyanne conway put it the lynch pin here is that flynn either forgot, couldn't fully recall or outwardly misled the vice president and other. that's going to be decided in days to come. certainly democrats see it one way. republicans and the white house want to put out another way. >> i think that's right. look, flynn had to do. any of those options are bad ones. other than that is the question of this administration's relationship with russia.

the content of that call does matter i think. ire flynn made this call going rogue or as part of a strategy that the incoming administration had to be closer to russia. i think that's concerning. i think that matters. and so going forward, flynn is out. that was right. but i do think we need to take a hard look at where this administration is going with russia. look at the news today with the ship off the coast of delaware. >> as john roberts was pointing out, who would be the contest anne of who would fill michael flynn's shoes. the contents of the phone conversation or what the white house is putting out. for them it's more misleading the vice president and the president. >> i don't want to jump ahead of the human story first. that's always important. there's always a human story whatever happens. i knew flynn was gone yesterday when i interviewed colonel ralph peters who has known him for 35 years. said he's never seen a more

brilliant military man than general flynn. they were captains together in an intel program. but he began to question general flynn when he took that money from rt, russian television, back in 2015. he tweeted the time he left the obama administration and was elected. he took money from a russian organization that's been closely united with the putin organization. ralph peters said you just don't do that. what's extraordinary is how people that are so smart. this guy has been in intel his entire military career, could do something that stupid. he must have known that this conversation that he had with the russian ambassador was being recorded. he knows intel. >> when you talk ab the human element of it, meghan, a source revealed that president trump was willing to hang in there with flynn but that flynn cratered and took himself out, obviously as we saw everything happen last night. but everybody feels bad about the situation. your take? >> it's simple. if you lie to the vice

president, he goes on tv, repeats that lie, you should be fired, you should step down. the interesting factor is there seems to be a total breakdown of our national security apparatus. who is this charge? president trump said he didn't take briefings because he talked to michael flynn every day. so if michael flynn season telling the president and vice president the truth that is a huge problem. this raises all new questions about the administration's relationship with russia, with putin. this is only going to get worse. when i was talking about political capital, this is what i'm talking about. you only have so many chances for errors. i think in the obama administration, it was seven year before somebody resigned and stepped down. >> but they had a honeymoon. >> we knew this. we know going into this that there's a triple standard for president trump and his administration. when i woke up this morning, i was surprised. i thought this administration would double down on michael flynn. i will say more than anything else, this man gave 30 years of

service to this country. we should thank him for that. he will be rail roaded all day. maybe he should be. but don't forget his service. >> you bring up such an interesting issue. before the show, we were talking ab who now is in charge of watching the shop. i realize that spy ship is 70 miles off the coast of delaware. they're still in international waters. our border many line, that worder borderline is 12 miles out. it's not of critical concern, but it is one that needs to be watched. even the source on record said that. who's watching that specifically? the american people need to be told that today. i think that's worth something coming out. maybe we'll see it in the white house briefing later today. sandra, you ask about the three people who are kind of on the shor list now for the job. i just want to point out a couple things that hit me. bob harward is one former navy seal. has a relationship with the secretary of defense.

that kind of gives him at least a little woven fabric within. i thought this was interesting. lieutenant joseph kellogg is the acting person. you always say possession is 9/10 of the law. how much more can we learn ab that man? >> the third is general david petraeus that is being discussed. going back to harward which is being seen as one of the topics here. white house sources tell john roberts he's described as the toughest guy in the seals. a real rock. >> i think both meghan and i can talk about it. it was a seal that got my son into the marine corps. it's a terrific thing. if i can i want to go back to something that meghan was saying, which is the democrats have not allowed this particular administration to have a government yet. it's not really a complete government. the continual harping on all the details of all the nominee, some of which are fair, but some of

which are not fair, clearly just meant to obstruct is really holding up the construction of a government that would allow us, as citizen, the security we need. we have to focus on that. >> what do you think ab the potential candidates to replace flynn? >> i worked for general petraeus for a very short period of time. i was his spokes person. i think he is the perfect person for the job. you need someone strategic. someone who will say, here's what we want to do on foreign policy. here's how we'll get it done. who can look at the entire world an set a focus for this administration that is in chaos. >> you don't think senate democrats will harp on his problems with secrets in the case? >> of course. there's not a ton of options that i would endorse as good ones. i know general petraeus a little bit. i think in this job he can set a administration that has been completely lacking one. and he is widely respected. >> we know the president looked at him briefly for secretary of state so you know he's somebody

he wants in his inner circle. >> we will have much more on general michael flynn coming up. as republicans are asking why information about him was leaked to the media. whether it's all mart of a coordinated attack on the trump administration. plus, president trump raising the detention of nearly 700 illegals last week. critics call them disturbing. who's right and what to expect going forward? after the show of course you can join our live chat by pushing the overtime tab. or go to facebook.com/outnumbered. you can tweet us during the show. we're looking at those tweets. see you after the break.

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>> lawyers are trying to get the case

>> president trump is praising a slew of immigration raids. u.s. authorities arrested 680 people in los angeles, chicago, lean, san antonio an new york city. the president said the raids are part of an effort to keep his campaign promise. >> we're actually taking people that are criminals, very very hardened criminals in some cases, with tremendous track record of abuse and problems,

and we're getting them out. that's what i said i would do. i'm just doing what i said i would do when we won by a very very large electoral college vote. >> the tkep tkep of homeland security said 75 opinion of those detained committed serious crimes including murder, drug trafficking. chuck shumer calls the raids deeply disturbing saying in a statement, i am troubled by the lack of transparency and due process violation surounding ice's most recent enforcement action. that is why i'm calling on ice to release information about the location of the raids and details of the people arrested. david, we saw some of this type of raid progression under president obama. are there significant differences that we need to know about? >> i'm smiling. not because raids are a happy thing. they're not at all. but why wasn't chuck shumer so troubled by the 3 million

deportations of president obama? that's 1 million more than gw bush had during the course of his administration. that averages out to 1,000 deportations a week during president obama's entire term. so far he is way ahead of -- president obama was way ahead of the deportations of our current president. the point is there's not a lot different. there's a lot of fake news out there. i use that phrase in a very guarded term. not as often as president trump does. but this is fake news, the idea that there's something fundamentally different about what's going on. if anything, it's less in quantity than probably less in quality, too, in terms of the severity of the raids. >> part of what senator schumer is pointing to though is the due process which is kind of folding into the whole immigration clause and so on, so forth. there potentially could be a little bit of politics there. what do you think? >> i don't think there's harm in getting more information. sure, you can say chuck shumer is playing politics. fine. we live in a political world.

there is nothing with kicking people out of the country. the photos are not all like this, but there have been others taken from their families. most are criminals. there's no harm in more information certainly. i think chuck shumer an others should be right to push for that. and so i think what this shows us is that in the long time we do need comprehensive imgraying great lakes owe immigration reform. president trump's words have consequences. he said pretty aggressive things. now it is worth asking questions when some families are being separated by this policy. i don't think that's too much to ask. >> so what is the best way to go about that though and continue what you have going on? >> well, i don't know the specifics of what senator schumer has asked for. if there's a way for ice to provide more information ab what crimes these folks were convicted of. i haven't seen a lot of

breakdown on that. to give some more information ab what's driving the raids. you get one story from ice that says this is a continuation from president obama. you get another comment from president trump that says this is my policy. >> president trump ran hard on immigration. first thing he promised coming down the golden escalator of trump tower. we can debate all day long about comprehensive immigration reform. god knows i have done it for year. that is not what the american public responded to. it's not what the american public wants. they want people who have committed hard felonies, especially when you have discussions about sanctuary cities and illegal aliens coming here even murdering people. they want them out. they want them out now. it's a breakdown of our borders that has happened over the past eight years. i would argue the past 12. >> homeland security secretary john kelly said these raids were fulfilling a campaign promise.

but emphasized the operations were routine. you look at chuck shumer. it's hard to decipher what democrats are upset about and what they really have a problem with. >> they're upset about they are not in power. >> the american people do want if you are a criminal, if you murdered someone, raped someone, the american people agree those people should get deported. >> doesn't the american public also agree that if you come here legally. our own first lady waited ten years to become a citizen. there are people who go to war and serve and become citizens abroad serving in a war to become citizen. >> that happened to my stepson. he was not a citizen when he joined the marine corps. he became a citizen in iraq. >> why should someone else who is breaking the law be in front of your stepson? >> good question. >> i think the question is, the reality is, there is a woman like the one we saw in california who's been here for 20 years. she has two kids who are american citizen. she's checked in with ice every

month for however many years she's been here. first time she did that she got taken from her family. i'm not sure the american people want to take mothers from their children. >> that's where transparency, on a case like that. all right. we'll move on. michael flynn's resignation is now sparking concerns about the leaks coming out of washington, d.c. whether they are all part of a co coordinated attack on the trump administration. and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is in washington on a visit which could reshape the united states relationship with israel, which you know has been pretty chippy as of late. what's at stake? your insurance company won't replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. tech: don't let a cracked windshtrust safelite.plans.

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hey, ready foyeah. big meeting? >>uh, hello!? a meeting? it's a big one. too bad. we are double booked: diarrhea and abdominal pain. why don't you start without me? oh. yeah. if you're living with frequent, unpredictable diarrhea and abdominal pain, you may have irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea, or ibs-d. a condition that can be really frustrating. talk to your doctor about viberzi, a different way to treat ibs-d. viberzi is a prescription medication you take every day that helps proactively manage both diarrhea and abdominal pain at the same time. so you stay ahead of your symptoms. viberzi can cause new or worsening abdominal pain. do not take viberzi if you have or may have had: pancreas or severe liver problems, problems with alcohol abuse, long-lasting or severe constipation, or a blockage of your bowel or gallbladder. if you are taking viberzi,

you should not take medicines that cause constipation. the most common side effects of viberzi include constipation, nausea, and abdominal pain. stay ahead of ibs-d... with viberzi. >> fox news alert. we are awaiting discussion about the resignation of michael flynn.

they're asking the fbi to do an assessment amid concerns the leaks are part of a coordinated effort to attack the trump administration. katherine? >> thank you. writing in a tweet this morning, president trump said the focus should be on national security. the real story he wrote is why are there so many leaks coming out of washington. will they be happening with north korea, etc. the leader wants the fbi to do an assessment of recent leaks that have revealed sensitive discussion and collection methods involving key trump administration officials. release of administration from the phone calls with the russian ambassador are especially problematic. when the intelligence community captures phone calls of an american inside the u.s., even if the conversation is with a foreign national, such as an ambassador, steps must be taken to shield the american caller's

identity. >> it was picked up inadvertently, then that would have had to be approved by someone in the last administration to unmask his name so that the fbi or intelligence officials knew who it was on the other end of the phone talking to the russian ambassador. if the press reports are right, someone made the decision to deliberately listen to general flynn's phone calls. and that is i think unprecedented, unwarranted and flat out wrong. >> mean time senior house democrats john con kwrers and elijah cummings from the government oversight committees want a full and immediate briefing on the phone calls before the end of this week when the house goes on recess. meghan in >> thank you very much. we're going to you first david. i was accused of being paranoid for saying that they, this white house has a leaking problem and it's underminding this administration and it's going to

turn into a bigger problem. i think today the proof is in the pudding. >> there was this in between world from december 29th which is when the sanctions were announced by the obama administration until now when sally yates was in charge of the justice department. sally yates was the head of the justice department. i think she may have been the one who found out about this. she seemed to be the one conveying information about this to the trump administration. but that's when they decided to put the bug on the russian ambassador to figure out why the russians weren't reacting to the sanctions. they were very calm. lot of people were asking why is it that they are so calm? they put this bug under the russian ambassador's phone. then heard this conversation from flynn. somebody had to give permission. i think it might have been sally yates and the justice department. maria has some different opinions. >> i think the people in charge of giving that permission come from the nsa director, director

of national intelligence. >> even though it was the f who put the leak on the ambassador's phone? >> when you are tapping a foreign official and pick up an american citizen, it's my understanding that it would be an intelligence official who would say there's a reason to do this. this could be part of the on going investigation that we know of, again, through leaks. it's on going into the trump campaign and trump administration ties to the russian government. could be part of an investigation. >> you brought up a fascinating point with me earlier about just the impetus for general flynn to have not perhaps been as open as he could have been or flat out lied. we don't know what happened there. but there might have been some reason other than it was just his own personal opinion to do that. >> right. why do we lie about things? because we don't think -- because something we've done is not okay. if he was comfortable with the content of the conversation, why would he feel the need to lie about it? either he had the conversation in a way that was rogue. he wasn't strucked by someone on

the president elect's team to do it. or it was part of a strategy to try and improve relations with russia which president trump said he wanted to do. both are concerning to me. that's why not focusing on the fact that he resigned but the fact that we need to get to the bottom of it. >> aren't you shocked that he wouldn't realize his conversation is being taped? this is former head of the defense intelligence agency. next to the cia the most important agency around. >> i'm guessing that ambassador kipliak was not just being monitored starting then. >> no. >> i feel it's almost turning into an interview of you. this is your expertise. when you go back to what the president tweeted out earlier today from his account. said why are there so many owe though is clearly where he wants to focus. why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of washington? he wants the focus to be there. if this happened during the

obama administration, what would democrats be asking be done about this? >> well, first, he should be concerned when he has sensitive conversations in the middle of his club with waiters and other unclear people around. little disingenuous for him to say that about north korea. we had leaks in the obama administration. every administration does. with technology, it's easier to get conversations out. i also think we can forget the reason lot of these are career people probably leaking not just political. they're doing this because they are so concerned about how radically this administration is behaving on foreign policy. they are concerned about the ties to russia. >> meghan looks like she has an immediate response. >> it's a little naive to say this isn't political as well. >> it could be both. >> he has historically contentious relationship with

all facets of the intelligence community. yes, i assume there are people concerned. i am concerned. what general flynn did is a fireable offense. fine. you're fired. but beyond that, let's not pretend they're not trying to undermind the trump administration. >> the media thinks this is the thing that will sink the trump administration, too. so they're on it as well. >> this is interesting. we know how rocky the relationship was with president obama an israel. the prime minister. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is now in washington, d.c. he's on a trip which could reshape the future of the u.s./israeli alliance. ahead of what's expected to be a crucial meeting at the white house tomorrow, netanyahu will sit down with secretary of state rex tillerson lear today. the israeli later was striking an optimistic tone about his meeting with president trump disfight white house recent push back on israel's settlement expansion.

>> the alliance between israel and america has always been extremely strong. it's about to get even stronger. president trump and i see eye to eye on the dangers emanating from the region, but also on the opportunities. we'll talk about both, as well as upgrading the relations between israel and the united states and many, many fields. >> another immediate concern for the two leaders is iran which the u.s. just slapped with santions after the latest ballistic missiles test. we know that's not the only country that's been flexing its ballistic muscles. >> that's right. iran, the iranian deal for the israelis was the last straw with the obama administration. yes there will be push back on settlements and other issues, but i don't think the israeli government has ever been happier with the u.s. leader than he is with donald trump. >> i'm gonna break in with breaking news. we've been talking about the politics, logistics of the

departure of the national security adviser general flynn. right? now the house democrats are responding. let's watch together. >> -- lied about his discussions with the russian ambassador. it is inconceivable to me that the white house counsel would have kept that to himself. so others in the administration were aware that the national security adviser of the united states had misled other administration officials who had in turn misled the american people. and they were okay with that. the 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. and that ought to be deeply

disturbing to everyone. that the white house would have even comtemplated tolerating a national security adviser who lied to them and to the american people through the vice president. this obviously begs a 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 get out of the way. these questions are far too

important to go unanswered. i'm also want to say that i am pleased to see at least some republicans stepping forward 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 disassembling aides. with that let me introduce elijah cummings the ranking member on the government reform committe committee. >> let me begin by asking everyone in this room a very simple question. do you hear that? do you hear the silence? this is the soupb 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 for the president and his advisers and their ties to russia. but our chairman jason chaviz has not lifted one finger. he has not requested one piece of paper. think ab 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 rt. according to our own u.s. intelligence officials rt is, and i quote, the kremlin's principle international propaganda outlet, end of quote.

flynn now admits that he got paid for that trip, but refuses to say how much he was paid. he may have violated the constitution in the process. the pentagon is investigating this. 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 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. i know he's now resigned, but he's not gonna 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 the justice department warned the white house council three weeks ago that flynn secretly talked with the russians about sanctions and may have lied about it to the hospital. the department warned that the national security adviser was at risk of being blackmailed by the russian government. and that was three weeks ago. three long weeks ago.

21 days ago. so why did the president say on friday he did not know anything ab flynn's calls with the russian ambassador? did the white house counsel really never tell the president? because 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. another question. why did flynn continue to sit in on the most sensitive classified meetings until just two days ago? ladies and gentlemen, something is wrong with that picture. we're at the white house. i want the press to press these questions. who at the white house decided to do nothing for three weeks,

having him sit in on meeting after meeting after meeting. did the president decide to wait? did counsel decide to wait? something is wrong here. madam leader, this is a quote. scapegoat. end of quote. scapegoat. he basically described himself as a scapegoat. so i believe we need to hold a public hearing with flynn to get to the bottom of this. our committee held three or four emergency hearings on hillary clinton in the matter of a week or two. if there is any emergency at this moment in the history of this country, this is the moment. so we need to get his security clearance documents. i want to see them. i want to see what he put in those documents to find out if he was honest on those forms. we need to know how much he got paid to have dinner with putin.

but that is only the beginning. press asked us over and over. i know they asked the leader does it end here? shouldn't things end here? no, they cannot end here. ladies and gentlemen, we are in a fight for the the soul of our democracy. the question is whether we will clear understand if this is our watch. let's be clear. chef said it quite eloquently. 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 for the soul of our democracy. gives me great pleasure to introduce the ranking member of the you dish air committee. >> unless we want to yield to the leader. >> thank you so much. the overdue resignation of

general flynn last evening does not resolve this matter. i want to make that clear. because i have been trying to get my chairman of the judiciary 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 vladamir 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 in trust and security. we have not heard back from our leadership today and we've called repeatedly to the chairman about this matter. why is it the flynn resignation does not resolve this matter? we need to know. we need to know why he lied to the administration and the american people. and why the white house

council's office sat on this information for three week. it would surprise me to find out flynn was acting on his own. he seems to speak to the president of the united states almost every day. so we want everyone to know that this is just the beginning of an inquiry that we're just trying to find answers to these problems. thank you. >> mr. thompson? >> we've been watching leadership on the democratic side respond to the resignation of general flynn. and of course there were politics dripping there as there normally are. at one point one of the leaders

said the public, we want to hold public hearings. that was elijah cummings. just like the republicans held hearings with hillary clinton. i'm confused. make it make sense. >> look, i am not going to compare it to anything the republicans did in the laugh eight years. >> he did. >> i'm not going to. what i would say is that just having this conversation here on the couch today, there are a lot of unanswered questions. this is bigger than mike flynn having to step down. the question is what conversations did the trump campaign have with the russians? what does it say about where this administration is going? whether this is congressional hearings. the american people also have questions and have a right to know what it is as part of a strategy, whether this was done alone.

>> you talked about the optic of them getting ahead of the story. how are republicans doing on this issue and what do you expect tows see next? >> i will defer to the lady on my right. >> the lady from arizona. >> democrats said there were no republicans who spoke about the connection between the russians and trump administration. beg to differ. >> i feel they are very well known who are taking a lot of heat from other republicans for being so aggressive about putin and relationships. you can't paint all republicans with a broad brush.

there are a lot of republicans worried about a relationship with russia. just going forward, i laugh at the idea that democrats have ever cared about anything putin or russia has done in the past eight years. the strength putin has right now, the syrian refugee crisis. obama didn't do anything. he was caught on an mic saying he would have more flexibility after the election. spare me that you care about russia. >> not to mention that when barack obama was going up against mitt romney he said that's not the most important thing we're facing now. mitt romney could clearly see something. >> i am looking at the string of tweets coming out from democrats right now. they're pouncing on this. bernie sanders has been very active during this whole thing. i was trying to get back to specifically what he said. harris just came to me too fast.

>> we can come back. >> do that. we can come back. >> you were saying while those democrats were speaking, you were saying these were the wrong people to put this message out there. what did you mean? >> congressman elijah cummings did not even show up to the inauguration. bush, romney, now donald trump. please, again, these are not the right people. when you are coming out looking so politically inclined just from the gate. i would put your foreign policy hawks on the democratic side. people that actually care about national security and hacks historically. it looks all political. people on the right will tune out. >> the white house press briefing is coming up any moment. we're watching for that. this president has had so much transparency in terms of his ability to reach millions of people at once with a tweet. we hear from the administration every day. it will be very interesting some of the questions that were just posed by the democrats where you go in the briefing room that you're looking at live when the

press secretary sean spicer steps up in a short while. we are on the story. stay with us. what's it like to be in good hands? like finding new ways to be taken care of. home, car, life insurance obviously, ohhh... but with added touches you can't get everywhere else, like claim free rewards... or safe driving bonus checks. oh yes.... even a claim satisfaction guaranteeeeeeeeeee! in means protection plus unique extras only from an expert allstate agent. it's good to be in, good hands.

>> fox news alert. democrats are still responding and we're also waiting for the white house press briefing to get started, too.

so we have two optics going on in terms of the departure of general flynn from the national security adviser position today. >> can i take my time. >> please take it. question is how do republicans take this moment forward? >> they do have to get ahead of it now. what's clear from that presser is democrats smell blood in the water. it is very political right now. no question that there's more politics -- >> they're calling for congressional hearings. >> who is the best communicator in the world right now, or at least the most direct? donald trump. donald trump has to come out and say something about all of this. clearly, we are about to hear a presser. sean spicer will do his best. i think we have to hear from donald trump and put politics in his place. >> for those who say this is much to do about nothing, put it in context. >> it's the brass ring for democrats. this is their chance, they think, to get donald trump. donald trump has to speak out ppl >> marie you say there are unanswered questions.

>> there are. i spent the last eight years defending an administration that was accused of being too soft on russia, too close to them. now republicans have an obligation to use that same standard for their own party. >> we will come right back here. stay close.

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for being here. also get to have you for the first time. >> for her, perfect time. >> news briefing starting moments from now. we will keep it right here for overtime, "happening now" starts now. >> jon: we start with this fox news alert, minutes away from what could be another contentious white house briefing. briefing. >> jenna: first one since the president security advisor resigned last night, we are covering all the news "happening now." >> the level of objection by senate democrats. >> jenna: the push to get president trump's cabinet confirmed by the senate kicks into high gear as democrats dig in for a fight. >> the president has shown his hand by selecting the most anti-working-class cabinet that we have ever seen. >> jenna: plus... outrage at town halls as the words repeal and replace obamacare