conveying with counterparts and previous members of their team. that being said, he was made aware of it once the white house counsel briefed him on concerns the department of justice had. at that point, as i mentioned, what he asked and believed at the time was confirmed by white house discussing the issue didn't violate anything. it was appropriate and normal course of action to discuss that. he immediately asked the white house counsel to further confirm what his instincts were at the time. thank you, guys. have a great one. got to get ready for a bill signing. we've got a bill signing. we have a bill signing. >> is the administration taking any sort of effort, cabinet wise or to make sure that everyone comes forward who had any communication with the russians about santions or otherwise? >> there is no other talk. this is an isolated incident that occurred.

there was nothing wrong or inappropriate about the discussions. it came down to a matter of trust. that's it. see you tomorrow. happy valentine's day! >> that is a alert for you. white house press secretary sean spicer noting several times in the briefing that general michael flynn was asked to resign over an issue of trust. and also saying the real story is the leaks. we'll see if that holds. hello everyone. i'm melissa francis. it is the first casualty less than a month in. here is spicer laying out why flynn resigned. >> the president must have complete and unwaivering trust for the person in that position. the evolving and eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionable instances is what led the president to ask for general flynn's resignation. the white house counsel reviewed and determined there is not an illegal issue but rather a trust

issue. >> let's go live to chief white house correspondent john roberts. so i guess we heard what the white house is saying about this now. what was the reaction like in the room? >> reporter: obviously sandra lot of people had lot of questions. most dealt with this idea of when did the president know, what did the president know, when did he know it? certainly democrats like elijah coummings have said that. they smell blood in the water. they think potentially there are casualties out there. there are some democrats talking about potentially putting together impeachment proceeding against the president. so they have a vested political interest in that. now what's going on here at the white house. the president was first made aware of what mike flynn was talking to the russians about

back on the 26th when they were informed by the department of justice. we're told by sean spicer that the white house counsel's office then conducted a lengthy internal investigation. they interviewed the national security adviser mike flynn a number of times. had conversations with the department of justice over what they might or might not know. there's this idea that the fbi has got transcripts of communications intercepts between the national security adviser and the russian ambassador to the united states. sean spicer would not say whether those transcripts were looked at in terms of his investigation but the bottom line is the white house counsel's office came away with this confident that there was nothing illegal about this. that this was simply a matter of trust. now, clearly, it's in the white house interest to try to dismiss this as a matter of trust and nothing illegal. lot of questions will continue

to be asked. congress may hold investigations. there are even republicans who are saying all of this needs to be looked into. >> all right. thank you very much for that report. lots of leaks from the u.s. intelligence community right in the leadup to the resignation of the national security adviser michael flynn. the chairman of the house intelligence committee. katherine harris has more on this. there are a lot of different elments. we don't want to say what's the most important. i can hear people in the audience yelling at us. let's deal with the issue of the leaks first. what do we know about why we know about all of this? >> well, the leaks about flynn with the russian ambassador are problematic from an intelligence point of view because they're known as electronic intercepts or signals intelligence.

access to these programs is highly restricted. when the intelligence community captures phone calls of an american inside the u.s. such as flynn even the discussion he has with the foreign national such as the russian ambassador, there has to be steps to shield the american's identity. unmasking the caller, in this case flynn, would need to sign off at the highest level. >> any time that an american is picked up on any type of surveillance, that has to immediately stop, it has to be mapped. you have to go to the courts and getted a warrant and listen to an american's phone call. i'm quite sure this wasn't done in this case. >> a security national adviser said he believes the leaks were targeted and a possible violation of the law, melissa. >> intelligence is flynn's bread and butter. wouldn't he know this was going to be intercepted and people

knew about this phone call? >> i don't want to say too much on that. i can tell you with total confidence that he had some understanding that his communications were under surveillance. >> he's now resigned, but he's not gonna get off that easy. we need some answers to a whole lot of questions. i believe we need to hold a public hearing with flynn to get to the bottom of this. our committee held three or four hearings, emergency hearings on hillary clinton in the matter of a week or two. and if there was any emergency at this moment in the history of this country, this is the moment. >> the republican chairman of the house intelligence committee is asking the fbi to investigate these leak. there's no word on flynn will appear on the hill. we asked the ranking democrat where he shares the same concern about the impact of the leaks but have not had a response. we will bring it to you when we get it. >> before president obama left

office, he signed an executive order about surveillance. did that play a role in this? >> well, it may well have had a role in this. the rule change affected this executive order. it changed the way the fbi could sift through raw data making it easier to share information among agency and identify in phone calls and text messages of american citizens. these rules were eased not for criminal cases but for what's called counter intelligence cases. those are espionage cases. several conditions have to be met though for that to happen. one is that you have evidence that an american citizen is acting as an agent of a foreign government. that's a very broad term and a broad threshold, but it would have to be met under these rules. >> terrific reporting. thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> with more on all of this,

brett bayer. wow. lot to dig into here. let me start with the tone. sean spicer, all the way through, he must have said almost 100 time, this is not about mike flynn doing anything illegal. that isn't an issue. he said it again and again. we were confident about that. this is about him losing the trust of the president. does he succeed in changing the narrative to that, do you think, brett? >> listen, politically this is not a good start to this week at all. for the trump administration. let's just put that on the table. and the democrats smell blood in the water here on this russia issue. they are not going to let it go. they are going to continue to press. they have some republicans, including lindsey graham, john mccain, senator blount from missouri who have come out and said there needs to be a full scale investigation. i thought it was interesting that remember the evolution that we've had here. kellyanne conway saying the

president has full confidence in flynn yesterday afternoon. kaoeupbtd of evolves. now we get the full explanation from sean spicer saying that the president lacked trust. it was a trust issue. after a series of issues he said later on. not just this one. i think that you're starting to see how this white house is dealing with things. when it comes to trust, the national security adviser is one of the most trusted people for a president, considering all the foreign policy hot spots that this president now is dealing with. >> yeah. absolutely. that's what they wanted to focus on. the other thing they wanted to emphasize was this idea of how do we even know that this is going on. there is a real problem with leaks going on maybe within the intelligence community. listen to what spicer had to say about that. >> i think there's also a story with the am of leaks that are coming out of people entrusted with national security secrets

and classified information are leaking it out. that's a real concern for this president. that when he's talking on the phone with a world leader, when he's making key decisions in the interest of protecting this country, that we have to wonder whrorpb people who work for our government, who are entrusted with classified information and decisional based material, are leaking that information out. >> does he have a point or is that deflection? >> i think there's a point there. there are a number of different people on capitol hill and in the administration who i have talked about who are concerned that there is, in fact, this intelligence industrial complex that is trying to take out donald trump or somehow discredit him or get under and disqualify him or some of his officials that are working for him. it's a real issue. that is something sean spicer got to right there in that answer. you know, put it in context here, melissa.

you've got north korea with the missiles. that's stepping up. you have a russian spy ship that is off the coast of the u.s., east coast, that is capable of intercepting communications. that's the first time that has tha has happened under president trump. last time we saw one was 2015. you have all kinds of destablizing factors around the world. so this is an important time for the u.s., especially from a national security point of view. >> what do you make of that spy ship? that is another news item that came out that a lot of people are looking at. in your opinion, how unusual is that? it's moved into position to track communication. some of the reports say it is usually off the coast of georgia looking at our ballistic submarine. right now it's near washington. why? >> well, we can assume why. they're in the middle of all of this news coverage and focus on russia and the interaction

between the trump administration and what people are knowing and hearing. the russians are being aggressive. it comes after a series of buzzing of ships. there is a new report that they have their own cruise missile that has kind of secretly been deployed. so the russians are acting aggressively in the face of uncertainty about u.s./russia relations and what the future policy will be. that's why you have u.n. ambassador nikki haley saying russia needs to stop some of these aggressive moves or face consequences. >> yeah. meanwhile, what do we know about a potential replacement for general flynn? >> well, there are two people who are really in the biggest position to take over. and that is vice admiral robert harward. very well respected. ceo lockheed martin.

former vice admiral deputy commander of u.s. central command. also served on the nsc for the bush administration. then you have lieutenant general joseph keith kellogg. he's named acting national security adviser right now. also well respected up on capitol hill and in the intelligence community. but the most important part about this job is the trust with president trump. either one of these guys i think has a relationship. >> brett, thank you very much. after the stunning resignation of national security adviser michael flynn, blistering assessment from senator john mccain. our political panel weighs in. plus, it has all the elements of a spy thriller. another close relative of north korea's dictator dying under mysterious circumstances just days after another provocative missile launch. why the u.s. believes this was no accident.

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>> melissa: new reaction to the resignation of michael flynn. sean spicer saying it came down to trust not any legal issue. rom johnson raising questions about all the intel leaks leading up to flynn's resignation. >> somebody in the nebulus intelligence commune. those questions have to be asked. who tapped the phones? who was listening to it? who leaked it? those are legitimate questions to ask. leaks like this are damaging to america, to our national security, and we need to look into it. >> melissa: joe triffy is a fox news contributor. joe, let me start with you.

the issue of the act itself and then the leak beyond that. let's start with the act. sean spicer saying that general flynn was just doing his job. that's that what you do in the days leading up to a position. you're going to reach out to your counter part on the other side. the problem was he misspoke or lied to the vice president about that. do you believe that? i mean, does that make sense to you? do you accept that? >> it doesn't make sense because if it was doing his job, why would he feel some need to lie or mislead the vice president of the united states, sean spicers and others in the administration or forget. this happened days after. now we're talking weeks after. when he told pence it wasn't long after those calls. i just think it's something -- there's going to be a lot of questions. obviously the leaks, but also the act. who else knew? why did they wait so long to do

something about it? >> melissa: matt, joe isn't the only one who thinks there's a larger problem here. also senator john mccain saying senator flynn's resignation is a troubling indication of the disfunction of the current national security apparatus. do you agree with that? >> no. i think that's overbroad. i do agree that there's some very basic questions that need to be answered. if general flynn didn't characterize this conversation correctly, i think there are people on the hill and other people who want to see how those conversations, how they occurred and what was said. i also think people want to know what the doj, what they said and what conclusions they came to. these are very basic questions to which they will get answer. the heat will come out of this. i think the important thing for this administration to do is to start to put a very strong foot out on their national security apparatus. i think unfortunately the

wobbliness of this general flynn situation, i don't want to say it's policy, but it could be, and that's a mistake. >> melissa: there's a lot of different elements to thislot of people making the point that this signal intelligence leaking is one of the most serious crimes there are out there. because you are leaking information about who's talking to whom. you're shutting down potential channels of communication. you're outing people who are talking to each other. it's just a very dangerous thing. isn't that important? >> it's important. but one thing i caution is we don't know where the leaks came from. it may not have come from the intelligence community. again, if this information is moving from the intelligence community to justice, so that justice can tell the white house counsel what's going on, it could be someone from the white house. i think there are a lot of questions that should be answered. i agree with matt, that those will all be looked into.

>> melissa: we have to run, all that breaking tphaousz. the half brother of north korean dictator kim jiang reportedly dead. u.s. officials think he was assassinated. it sounds like something out of a spy movie. so who did it? (announcer vo) when you have type 2 diabetes there's a moment of truth. and now with victoza® a better moment of proof. victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill, which didn't get me to my goal. lowers my a1c better than the leading branded injectable. the one i used to take. (jim) victoza® lowers blood sugar in three ways. and while it isn't for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight.

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i love to see businesses that just started from ground up grow into further success. it just feels good to know that i'm helping someone else. my first goal is to learn about their business, what they're currently doing in their advertising. pull some research, create a great story. trying to figure out some way of building some kind of trust in a very quick moment. you have to love to work with people. our goal, without a doubt, is that all customers are satisfied before they leave. ♪ >> melissa: north korean leader's half brother is dead after it was reportedly sprayed in the face with a mystery liquid at an airport in malaysia yesterday. police say he was waiting for a flight to china at the time.

senior foreign american correspondent greg palcott is live in london with more. what is the latest on this killing? >> reporter: amazing stuff. yeah. a high intrigue and some deadly action. the one time possible heir apparent to father and former leader kim jong-il. he long lived outside of north korea. he fell out of favor with his half brother when that man came to power in 2012. the estranged relative was in malaysia trying to head out. officials there confirmed the death. south korean officials, in report, said he was poisoned, most likely using a spray device, by two female north korean secret agents. those two not only at large. there's an autopsy going on right now to find the exact reason for death, melissa.

>> melissa: wow. what does this alleged killing say about north korea's regime tactics right now? >> reporter: they're pretty tough, melissa. kim jong-man had been target thered the past. he was speaking critically about his half brother and the regime. the regime has been targeting other officials it's been reported including the former number two who happens to be the uncle of both of these men. this comes as our viewers remember just two days after this missile test in pyongyang. today the north korean regime said it was purely defensive. but apparently the best defense is offense. maybe deadly offense when it comes to their alleged enemies. >> melissa: wow. thank you. reaction to michael flynn's resignation pouring in from both sides of the aisle, including from house speaker and from independent senator angus king.

he's live next. >> 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. orders were coming at us rapid-fire. things were touch-and-go. it really could've gone either way. but i had a decision to make. pancakes, or bacon and eggs? we decided to go with pancakes. because well, lola can be a real five year old when she doesn't get her way. home. you gotta love it. and it's all thanks to my fantastic mortgage from navy federal... it's not called the mess hall for nothing. open to the armed forces, the dod, veterans and their families. navy federal credit union.

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leading up to general flynn's resignation on december 25th. flynn contacted the russian ambassador. he says the call involved christmas wishes and condolences over a plane crash. on the 29th the obama administration announced sanctions against russia over election interference. that same day flynn reportedly spoke with the russian ambassador multiple times. on january 1st, then vice president-elect pence denied flynn and russian ambassador discussed sanctions. on february 8th, flynn denied discussing sanctions with the ambassador. a day later a spokesman for flynn said he had no recollection of discussing sanctions but could not be certain. yesterday just after 4 p.m. eastern, white house counselor kellyanne conway said flynn enjoyed, quote, the full confidence of the president. then about an hour later sean spicer said president trump was,

quote, evaluating the situation. general flynn resigning a few hours later. joining us from capitol hill independent senator angus king from maine. you sit on the senate committee of intelligence. thank you for joining us. i want to talk about the theme of sean spicer's news conference today saying that it was fine, that flynn was discussing these engagements and conversations with the ambassador, that that's what you do when you're getting ready to assume a position. what was wrong ab what happened was thats many led the vice president. do you accept that? >> i don't think it's so easy to say there was no problem. because at the time, remember, michael flynn was a private citizen. transition was under way, but you only can have one president at a time. basically, if those discussions were in the nature of negotiations or preparing for negotiations or reassurances,

whatever they were, it really wasn't appropriate. so it wasn't good judgment. as you know, it could be a violation of a law called the logan act. it's 200 years old. it's never been enforced. so i think it's unlikely. being untruthful with the vice president and the american people is a pretty serious offense in and of itself, as sean spicer conceded. >> melissa: but you don't buy the idea that he said if he wassen reaching out and paving the way to begin having a relationship with these people in his new role, that he would be criticized for not preparing for his new job. that what he was doing, not only was he allowed to do it, he was sort of expected to be doing things like this. you don't buy it? >> if he was expected to be doing it, why did he hide it for a month? if it was all above board and routine and part of the transition, why was so much effort made to mislead people about it if it's okay then you don't cover it up. so that would be my best answer for that. >> melissa: along those lines, i

mean, intelligence was his bread and butter. wouldn't he know that these conversations were being recorded? that people would know that he was on the line? when he was asked later, did you talk about the sanctions, wouldn't in the back of his mind say, boy, this is recorded, i better tell the truth about this, or be sure that what i'm saying is for sure factual? >> yeah, that's exactly what i thought. he must have known that we monitor conversations of russian diplomats as a routine, and i'm sure just as they monitor conversations of our diplomats in russia or here. so it is surprising that he would have made these comments and that he would have said something that was untrue knowing that somewhere on a transcript there was evidence to the contrary. maybe he thought it would never come out. but that's a faulty assumption. he should have told the truth. the surprising thing to me is that the white house knew about

this for 2 1/2 weeks. that he was based on his statements, he was subject to blackmail by the russians. one of the questions is, why did it take so long for thissal to pass? >> melissa: they said that's due process. that it took us a little while to decide what we wanted to do. to talk to him. if we had just asked for his resignation at that second tharb wouldn't be fair. >> i don't buy it. there's a difference between that second and 2 1/2 weeks. couple of days maybe. it would have been a fairly short conversation. it shouldn't have taken very long. did you talk about the sanctions or not? yes, i did. well then perhaps based upon what you told the vice president and the american people, and what the vice president told the american people based upon your representations, we think it's time to go. so, yeah, i don't think it would have happened within five minutes, but 2.5 weeks is a long time to sit on information like

that. >> melissa: thank you for talking to us. >> absolutely. >> melissa: president trump right now signing house join resolution 41. it is a bill to repeal a provision in the dodd frank wall street reform and consumer protection law. let's listen in. >> this will improve the securities and exchange commissions rule on disclosure of statements by resource ex-traction issues. it's a big deal. i want to thank speaker paul ryan for being here. he's been tremendous. very very important. really worked hard. representative bill izinger. all of my friends are up here. we really appreciate it. this is one of many that we signed. we have many more left. we're bringing back jobs. we're bringing them back at the mine level. the energy jobs are coming back. you see what's going on with the stock market. they know that we know what

we're doing, so it's going up at record clips. so i think what i'm going to do, if i might, can i ask you to say a few words? >> my pleasure, mr. president. yeah. so this is the first cra that has been signed by the president. very pleased to be the author of house joint resolution 41. over 20 years there's been 56,000 rules that have been put in place with very little legislative input or oversight. and it's time that changed. i'm very thankful to the president, the speaker, our chairman for being able to make this happen. we think this is a good fstep. so very pleased. thank you, mr. president. >> i'll sign it. we may have to give him the pen. i don't know. >> i got one. >> congratulations. great job. >> thank you. >> you've done a fantastic job. >> melissa: all right. you can see the president signing there.

market is back trading up on that news. liking what it has to hear there. you can see everyone there applauding. more lawmakers on capitol hill are reacting to the news of michael flynn's resignation including paul ryan saying it was, quote, the right thing do. mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. so what are key democrats saying? i can only imagine. >> reporter: melissa, good afternoon. they are calling for more answers. they want a full blown investigation into contact with the russians. democrats do not appear willing to let this go. >> i was very disappointed to see the speaker today unwilling to commit to investigate these communications between flynn and the russian ambassador. my feeling is if the speaker is not willing to commit to this, he ought to allow the formation of an independent commission and get out of the way. >> i know he resigned but he's not gonna get off that easy.

we need some answers to a whole lot of questions. but the obvious questions are, what did the president know and when did he know it? >> we also have a little bit of news here. on the republican side, senator roy blount of missouri saying that it is likely that michael flynn will be called before the senate intelligence committee. melissa? >> melissa: all the focus is on flynn but what is the latest on the effort to scrap president obama's signature health care law? >> reporter: top republicans talked about that today. a key priority of both the trump white house an the new congress. >> i fully recognize and respect the strong feelings that people have about this issue. we should be passionate about this issue. it is about people's lives. this affects every person and every family in america. that's why we are taking a step by step approach. so people can see the changes that we are making so they can see how they will help. >> with the confirmation of tom price as health and human

services secretary, we are excited to see him in that position. we trust that he is the best choice to lead in this effort. his confirmation is just one of those additional steps that we move forward with the repeal and replace of obama care. we're on track. >> reporter: republican leaders are emphasizing dr. tom price was just confirmed by the senate early friday morning so he's just getting started on the job. again, they say they are on track. melissa? >> melissa: all right mike emanuel, thank you. a fox news alert. the office of government ethics is now asking the white house to investigate counselor to the president kellyanne conway over her remarks surrounding the president's daughter ivanka trump. the office stating there is strong reason to believe that miss conway has violated the standards of conduct and that disciplinary action is warranted. the director of the office recommending the white house investigate miss conway's

actions and consider taking disciplinary action by february 28th. you'll recall conway commenting about the controversy around trump and nordstrom's suggesting during a television interview that viewers go out and buy ivanka trump branded products. the growing questions as to when the trump administration knew about michael flynn's conversations with russian ambassador leading to his resignation as national security adviser. we will discuss that. plus, emergency crews are scrambling to repair a dam in california in hopes of avoiding a potential catastrophic flood. but looming rain storms could bring more trouble this week.

>> we'll speak about the possibility that the man may

have to testify in congress about his contacts with russia. developing right now the office of government ethics weighing in on kellyanne conway and what should happen after she talked ab trump's clothing line on fox and friends. that's at the top of the hour. see you then. >> melissa: so growing questions about when the trump administration knew about the details of michael flynn's conversations with russia's ambassador. flynn stepped down as national security adviser after giving an inaccurate accounting of his conversations with vice president mike pence and others at the white house. so what did president trump know and when? let's bring in a democrat from california and the ranking member of the cia subcommittee of the house permanent select committee on intelligence. sir, thank you for joining us. >> good afternoon, melissa. thanks for having me on. >> melissa: i want to ask you, as we try to get to the bottom of the questions what the president knew and when. are you and democrats

comfortable with the idea that a lot of intelligence matters and efforts and how you do business were revealed by a leak? is that okay? >> well, what is not okay is that when we remove a rot ten plank, we still have a compromised platform. and so i'm more focused on the question as to whether there has been a political personal or financial compromise of the president or his team and the russian government. >> melissa: i understand that. i'm certain that there's probably going to be an investigation it sounds like from what you are doing into whrorpb that's true. i'm just wondering from your point of view, does the leak make you uncomfortable? that now so many people know ab our methods? and in that investigation into that ship you were talking about there, if the source of the leak is revealed, are you comfortable with that? >> i'm not comfortable with anyone who violates the law. that's why i'm very concerned right now and am advocating for an independent bipartisan commission to look at what did

russia do during the election? who was involved with the trump campaign and the president himself? and how does that affect decisions that are being made ab our own national security today. >> melissa: you don't mind if in the course of that the source of the leak is identified? >> i think what most americans care about is our commander in chief, this country that so many have defended and fought for, are we going to stand up for democracy or are we going to side with russia? that is the big question. i want to get to the bottom. >> melissa: i'm going to take that as a yes. >> no no no. i'm not okay with anyone violating the law. i was a prosecutor for seven years. you follow the evidence. you follow the law. i think right now our democracy is at stake. another country attacked us. sanctions were put on that country. then the national security adviser that was coming in told that country, don't worry about it, we'll take care of it. that's very disturbing. >> melissa: we don't know that's

exactly what was said. >> then why did he step down? why did he step down? >> melissa: there's an implication that something went wrong. otherwise he wouldn't have hidden the fact that he had the conversation, without question. i'm just wondering if you say you don't want anyone to break the law. who ever leaked this information also broke the law. should they face the same consequences or some consequences in this hunt for what did general michael flynn do? >> yeah. of course they should face consequences. >> melissa: okay. >> what is important and what the american people are concerned about are more and more disturbing ties between donald trump and his team and the russian government. that affects our national security every day. that's what i think we need to get to the bottom of. >> melissa: when this whole story was unfolding we went back to something chuck shumer said back in january. he said if you take on the intelligence community they have six ways from sunday to get back to you.

so even for a practical hard nosed business man, he's being really dumb to do this. it's like senator schumer foreshadowed all of this. the intelligence community getting back at donald trump. what do you think of that? >> well, i prosecuted defendants whose lawyer said my client couldn't have done this because no one could be so stupid. people are so stupid. this is the same national security adviser who allowed president trump in a dinner theater style manner tof have the north korea missile crisis play out over the weekend for everyone to see. so i don't think his judgment at all is there right now. i think the patriots who serve our country in the intelligence community, they do not care at all about politics. >> melissa: although sean spicer did address that comment. he said there is a skip there and there is no evidence they had a conversation outside. they had a private conversation inside about this. >> sean spicer is not credible. >> melissa: thank you for coming

on. we appreciate your time. it is a race against the block in northern california as emergency crews scramble to control water levels behind a damaged dam. we'll take you there live next. for lower back pain sufferers, the search for relief often leads here. today there's drug-free aleve direct therapy.

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>> melissa: right now emergency crews are frantically working to control water levels at the lake oroville dam to avoid a potentially catastrophic flood. concerns are growing with more storms expected to slam northern california later this week. nearly 200,000 people were evacuated from the area. claudia cowan is there an joins us with the latest. claudia? >> reporter: melissa, we've got a lot of activity we want to show you. take a look at this air lift operation that has been going on around the clock for the past

couple of days. we have a couple blackhawk helicopters. they are air lifting big sacks of boulders and other materials to the emergency spillway that was on the verge of collapse sunday night. they hope that this effort will help shore up that spillway to make it structurally sound. crews have been moving around these boulders for the past couple of days, air lifting them about a mile away. again to shore up the erosion damage that happened over the weekend in the wake of the recent rain. that spillway is a ravine that has never been used as a spillway before. officials warned state regulators that it needed to be reinforced with concrete but officials ignored those concerns. one lawmaker predicts that delay will cost california even more. >> this is one of the great could have, should have, but didn't. so that issue is still out

there. i will tell you going forward they'll spend $725 million on this fixing the emergency spillway and the main spillway. >> reporter: the main spillway is being used to lower the water level another 50 feet at least. take a look at drone video taken by state water officials as they look to boost capacity ahead of the next round of wet weather moving in on thursday. not to mention future storms and the snow runoff come spring. nearly 190,000 evacuees and hotels and shelters are wondering when they will get to go home. county sheriff said there is no longer an imminent threat of that emergency spillway collapsing. they want to boost capacity ahead of the next round of wetw. until that spill way is shored up and being structurally sound, melissa, mandatory evacuation order will remain in effect.

>> melissa: thank you very much, claudia. now for something totally different. a home robbery suspect. very small, very unlikely hero. how is that possible? stick around.

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to help block six key inflammatory substances that cause your symptoms. most allergy pills only block one. and six is greater than one. break through your allergies. new flonase sensimist. ♪ >> melissa: an idaho man finds out his pet squirrel is a hero. adam pearls said he called police after he noticed someone broke into his home and stole items. he assumed his squirrel, joey, was an innocent bystander until the officer questioned the suspect who had scratches on his hands. turns out, that joey had attacked the suspect the entire time! that's amazing! have you ever seen one of these? the nokia 10 came out in the year 2000. it was the first cell phone for many. no internet, no apps, no nothing. a new version of the phone will be announced at the end of the

month. no word on why or what it will do. i guess we'll see. maybe it's for the squirrel. tying that together. i'm melissa francis. here's shep. >> shepard: it's noon on the west coast, 3:00 at the white house where now we're told president trump asked michael flynn to resign as national security head not because any problems or conversations with russia or not because he might be a blackmail problem for russians but because of a trust issue. president trump has none about this for weeks. president says everybody is missing the real story, the leak. turns out, republicans are demanding an investigation of who leaked details with the call to moscow. other lawmakers say the big question right now how this ties into russia's