there are other vacations available. we hope you had a wonderful evening. i'm katie pavlich in for laura ingraham and now mike emanuel is filling in for shannon bream on "fox news @ night" ." >> good advice there. here's what's on tonight. president trump says he's open to stiffer background checks, but is that enough for students demanding change as the pressure rises on guns? >> you are either with us or against us. >> mike: in the wake of the florida school shooting. and as the president playing smart politics by singling out oprah winfrey in his latest tweet storm? >> do you care what the world thinks of the united states? >> mike: republican congressman adam kinzinger is here with answers. plus. >> a reporter from new york called me and asked if it was true that i was trying to outlaw masturbation in utah and i said no. >> mike: states are looking --

calls to ban it altogether. ♪ >> mike: hello and welcome to "fox news @ night." i make emmanuel in washington in for shannon bream. new tonight, president trump's tweet storm continues, blasting away at this hour. now he speaking favorably of the economy, but also of his old foe mitt romney. more on all that in a moment because we are also hearing about a possible sign of an overture with the media. the president may be sending a peace offering to the press by reportedly a agreeing to it on the gridiron with a journalist and not set out the white house correspondents dinner. no white house white last year. the president returns to a washington simmering over guns and russia. with leland vittert covering the latest on all those fronts, leland. >> we will start with guns. it appears the lockstep between

the nra and congressional republicans is getting softer tonight and president trump may also be persuadable when it comes to legislation once unthinkable. "the washington post" reports the president spent this weekend pulling friends down in palm beach on what they think about gun control. while discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background checks system. if republican lawmakers are trying to blunt the criticism of survivors from last week school shooting. president trump reportedly told friends he was watching as students attacked him and other republicans. >> we are giving all of our politicians a clean slate and in the next election we are saying if you are accepting money from the mra, there is a badge of shame on you because you are enabling things like this to happen. >> sound bites like those have been on the air almost nonstop

for a week now. also today outside the white house, gun-control advocates conducted what they call a lie in to demand stronger gun laws. the nuance here is critical. gun control advocates want new measures like banning assault rifles. republican proposals focus on better enforcement of already existing laws. >> just because the laws could not have done anything to prevent it doesn't mean that we can have a debate on those laws anyway. and it doesn't mean there's nothing we can do. >> one of the house stalwart conservatives who ran on a strong second amendment platform, also a grandfather, told me "i'm beginning to worry we are on the wrong side of history on this." that said, as you know after the loss figure shooting there was near instant bipartisan agreement on banning bump stock bump stocks. that legislation has so far gone precisely nowhere. >> mike: we will see if this time is different. what do you have, what have you learned about the president's

tweet about russians "laughing their asses off" at the success of meddling with the election? >> a lot of tweets about that. also a lot of talk about why president obama didn't do anything to stop the election meddling. jay johnson, the former secretary of homeland security said they didn't want to sound the alarm bell too loudly for fear of being labeled as in the tank for hillary. >> on october 7, that was the same day as the access hollywood video and all the talk that weekend after our statement was when is he going to withdraw from the race, how much longer does he have, so that was clearly a backdrop. >> mike: a high ranking ex- ex-soviet diplomat tells fox news the russians were courts quite surprised that the obama administration and american intelligence agencies didn't do more work couldn't figure out what was happening in real time. the diplomat who maintains very close ties to russian intelligence says the hacking scheme succeeded far beyond the

kremlin's dreams. you might remember the president's tweet from this weekend where he said the russians were "laughing their asses off in moscow." this diplomat told me he was in a meeting with intelligence officials who were doing just that over their success. >> mike: leland vittert leading us off. many thanks. the president returning to the white house tonight after a weekend tweeting about everything from oprah to daca to the russian indictments and right before he left florida about former president obama. kevin corke following the tweet storm for us tonight and he joins us now. >> good evening from west palm beach, florida. what a difference a day makes. today just one tweet about russia from the president. compare that with the weekend where we saw him tweeting virtually nonstop about the russia investigation. it was a digital day lose. the weekend tweet storm ran the gamut of topics but the investigation was clearly front

and center. it was the goal of pressure to create discord, disruption and chaos within the u.s., they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. they are laughing their asses off in moscow. the foray into the twitter verse was drawing contest between his constant refrain of noble brush in collusion with the ongoing russia probe which despite the recent indictments of more than a dozen russian nationals, is ongoing. predictably, today the kremlin rejected the notion that they were interfering with america's election. >> it looks like accusations have been made, but no evidence was presented. if someone americans say that russia does not acknowledge obvious facts, for us these aren't obvious and aren't facts yet. even a member of the president's own cabinet was spared from the wave. this comment from its national security advisor and a security summit in germany. >> as you can see with the fbi indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and

available in the public domain. >> the president chided mcmaster writing forgot to say the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the russians. whether or not votes were changed or the election impacted by russian interference is still anyone's guess. however, the fact that the indictments of legend the russians have been targeting the u.s. since 2014 drew this press dome a question from the president today. obama was present up to and be on the 2016 election, so why didn't he do something about russian meddling? exactly what the former president and his senior intelligence cabinet knew about russian meddling long before the 2016 election calls into question who could have or should have done something to stop it. >> obama was in a very difficult position. he did not want to make it appear that he was favoring hillary clinton. maybe you should have done more. >> while mr. trump asserts it means he's in the clear, some warned that be the case. >> you've seen intelligence. do you think that this

indictment suggests that it's a case closed, no collusion? >> no of course not. this is a president who claims vindication any time someone sneezes. >> one more note about the obama administration, what it knew or didn't know about russian meddling back in 2016. former vice president joe biden has said they were walking a constant tight rope over how much or how little to say about what they knew with regard to russian meddling. critics have argued and critics in particular of the trump administration that since then they have decided to little far too late. mike. >> mike: kevin corke reporting from florida. thank you. just a short while ago the president tweeting more. this time on the economy saying it's better than he anticipated and "companies are pouring back into our country, reversing a long-term trend of leaving." mr. trump also tweeting tonight an unexpected endorsement from it wrongly saying "he will make a great senator and worthy successor to orrin hatch and has

my full support and endorsement lowe's quote. with the president thinking to heading to dinner with journalists and now exchanging pleasantries with romney. it lets find out what to make of all of this with fox news politics editor and editor of the halftime report, chris stirewalt. for those of you scoring at home. we are also office remakes. >> true. brothers from another mother. that's right. >> mike: tweet storm over the weekend. lots of frustration about russia and the economy is looking up and met romney? >> first thing is shannon it is one night and you are all saying a double s. i'm going to write you up as soon as she gets back. i would say this. politicians are politicians. mitt romney once said he would never have accepted donald trump's endorsement in 2012 if he had known what a terrible guy he was. donald trump said that mitt romney was a choker and a loser and terrible and now

because politics is part -- no, mostly dishonesty with some policy at the end, they both are now saying flattering things about each other and of course frustrating their base supporters as they do so. this looks like two guys trying to get out of each other's way. romney is essentially -- i don't want to say a shoo-in but romney is in a very good position for the senate seat in utah. trump doesn't want to deal with him, he doesn't want to deal with the terms of this looks like i'm trying to go their separate ways. >> mike: peaceful coexistence heading into the 2016 midterms. >> until romney goes to washington. then it will be less peaceful. >> mike: "vanity fair" is out with a piecing republican lawmakers are in a bit of a pickle going into 2018. i saw this quote, i want to get a reaction. they say "republican candidates are facing a possible strategic choice. forgo trump red meat and watch the base stay home. what say you? >> in every race in the senate and the house, the question is will republicans let their

members do what they need to do to try to save seats. mitch mcconnell gave interviews to "the new york times" that appeared over the weekend and basically said wake up. no matter how good the generic ballot looks, matter what changes, this is the first midterm of a president of our own party and it's going to be rough. the wind is going to be in our face. mcconnell is obviously ready to let somebody like dean heller in nevada say something different than somebody's going to say in alabama and around the country. it let people meet their constituencies. that something democrats are struggling with right now. how far to let people go off from script. then we will find out whether the president is as generous a heart with the members of his own party, but in 435 house districts there are 435 different kind of candidates that are needed to run those races. >> mike: your fantastic halftime report letter you came out with some advice for folks. five points, let's put them on the screen. one, be generous.

two be specific. three, be personal without personalizing. four be prepared. five be courageous. can you give us some of your thinking on this? >> all he wanted do today, just a plea, the great mcclellan and i try to bring a patriotic spirit to the note every day. here's the deal. whether you like trump, disliked rope, a republican or democrat, the russians want something out of you and what they want out of you in this case is to demean, disparage and belittle your fellow americans to be miserly with your praise, to be generous with your blame, to always seek the wrong and the other person and never find anything wrong with yourself. that's the kind of discourse that destroyed -- our republic is not being destroyed, but that's the kind of discourse that destroys republics. our encouragement is, and this is a very straightforward idea. our encouragement is when we say be courageous, we say open your mind to other points of view. and most important thing that you can do is be generous of spirit.

don't question other people's patriotic spirit automatically. you can't just immediately say if this person disagrees with me they don't love the country. you've got to start from a point of view that says every american is trying to make this country better until they prove otherwise. >> mike: fox news halftime report, so good. smells like cinnamon in your inbox, you can't get enough. thank you, brother. >> thanks, brother. >> mike: you have seen a report that special counsel muller is interested in jared kushner's attempts to secure foreign financing for his company during the presidential transition. it's been reported by some that mueller has been looking at the president's son-in-law and advisor for his contacts with russia. his attorney blasting the new report. "another anonymous source with questionable motives now contradicts the facts and all of mr. kushner's extensive cooperation with all inquiries. yet another republican calling it quits tonight. florida, spent time really announcing this evening he will not be seeking reelection after serving five terms. "it's time to hang them up, as

my old football coaches to say." at one seen as a rising star, he never hit his frustration with gridlock in the town. he is now the 28th house republican to announce retirement from congress. the attorney general says the justice department will investigate alleged fisa abuse by the obama administration in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. jeff sessions emphasizing the need for every ultrasecret surveillance warrant submitted to the court to be accurate and promising nothing less and proper disclosure on his watch. she may not be planning to run, but is she campaigning? oprah winfrey says respect for the u.s. is eroding around the world and president trump is firing back. a man says hey, we too. trace gallagher investigates allegations against the california democrat who fired a male staffer for refusing to play spin the bottle. and could he have a change of heart? is mike flynn consider reversing

his guilty plea? we will take a look when night court convenes. ♪

>> mike: oprah winfrey sat down with michigan voters to gauge their opinions of our president trump on cbs's 60 minutes. >> okay. okay. polls are showing that respect

for the united states is eroding around the world. do you care with the world thinks of the united states? >> absolutely. >> ever since trump got elected in 2016 the numbers of incoming global students have gone down. they do not feel safe. >> i feel safer now than ever to the last eight years of obama. >> how do you feel safer? tell me how you feel safer. >> i feel like i can say merry christmas to anyone i want wherever i want. >> mike: president trump was apparently watching judging from the ensuing tweet storm. "just watched a very insecure oprah winfrey, what one point i knew very well, interview a panel of people at 60 minutes. the questions were biased and slanted, the facts incorrect. hope opera runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all of the others!" but is it fair to accuse this president of eroding respect of the world stage? joining me now from illinois,

adam kinzinger, serves on the house foreign affairs committee. good to see you. how is the united states doing on the world stage? >> i think it depends who you ask. if you ask some of our friends on the left they are going to say not well and is interesting if you look back at history, if you look at when ronald reagan was president, the people in the left said he's going to start nuclear war, he -- america is losing respect on the world. in fact europe thought ronald reagan was way too harsh on the soviets. the same thing happened with george w. bush. they called him a cowboy and all this kind of stuff. it's basically what happens if you are a republican. what i think is words wise, president obama said some really nice things. he said assad must go. he set aside cannot use chemical weapons. he said russia shouldn't invade ukraine. he pushed back against the chinese verbally. but did nothing in action on any of those. on the congress, president trump has taken a lot of action. he has bombed the syrians. there was a bombing against

russian mercenaries just two weeks ago when they crossed another redline. we have given assistance to ukraine. america really is stepping up to fill its role in the world again. it may be offensive to some people because he doesn't speak exactly like they wanted to, but i think there's no doubt that people respect the united states of america again and know that if the president says he's going to do something, he will. >> mike: u.s. news evidently does a country ranking, i thought they just at colleges. u.s. was ranked number seven last year, has apparently dropped to number eight this year. your thoughts? >> i don't know what criteria they use on this stuff. obviously they were going to ask some people and some folks on the left, again -- they don't like what's happening to our government because it offends them, but there's many people like me that actually think for the first time we gave people a tax cut. we are seeing the economy come back. we are seeing middle-class wages grow. we are seeing people support that. business is being unleashed.

that is the generator of the ability to put more money into the military, which we were just able to do, and to regain our position on the world stage. and sometimes being the tough person on the block, sometimes being the one that helps to create a world order, in essence something that works, people are going to be offended and mad because they don't like it. but it's what needs to be done because we've seen what eight years of a vacuum of leadership did. >> mike: meanwhile, president trump seems to be daring oprah winfrey to run for president in 2020 against him. there's a new pull out from pbs, actually from january revealing the american people have a very favorable impression of opera but when asked if they want oprah winfrey to run for president in 2020 or not, 35% said yes, 54% said no and 11% uninsured. if you are there in illinois. your thoughts? >> she's a well-known person here. she's fun to watch on television and she does great television. she hasn't shown herself to be worthy of running for president.

i guess she could run for it but she hasn't necessarily shown the qualifications of what it would take to be president. i think there's a lot of people intrigued by the idea of having oprah winfrey running for offic office. hearing her speeches and her inspiration in her story, which is actually very inspiring. she's an inspiring person. but i think when they look at it they are like what has she done to show that she could be a good commander in chief? if she does end up running, i think it will be fun, it will be a very crowded democratic primary. i think it's going to be where we were prouder than even the republicans were. it will be interesting to see how she stands up to the other 20 or so that will be running at the same time. >> mike: always fun to talk about even ahead of the 2018 elections. congressman adam kinzinger, great to talk to you. >> you bet. >> mike: it is a topic we don't touch on lately, but now that some states are calling it a public health risk amid calls to bennett entirely, we put ellison barber on the case to find out why. plus a democrat says his party

and the media are too fixated on russia as new reports tonight suggest voters are looking for a reset. we will debate what it all means for the midterms next.

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♪ >> mike: the state capital in california allegedly has a sexual-harassment problem. two lawmakers have resigned and two more are now on leave over suspected improper conduct and now we are learning more about the allegations against one of them. trace gallagher joins us live with the story. >> these complaints read like a lesson in hypocrisy 101. california democratic assemblywoman christina garcia, elected in 2012, has carved out a name for being a champion of the #metoo movement. not only is she a leader in the states antisexual harassment campaign, she was also featured in time magazines person of the year issue for being one of the silence breakers on sexual harassment.

garcia has vocally and repeatedly said she refuses to work with anyone who takes part in harassment or assault and yet she is now accused of both. a former male staffer for a different california lawmaker alleges that after a softball game in 2014 christina garcia stroked his back, grabbed his buttocks. after another -- said again shared tried to grab them. the staffer didn't reported at the time but last month you mentioned it to his boss and then passed it up the chain to assembly leaders. but there is more. christina garcia is also a big advocate of governor jerry brown's bush to give whistle-blower protection for those who report sexual misconduct. however, another former staffer at the california state house as garcia fired him because he said it was inappropriate that she asked her staff to play spin the bottle with her after a political fund-raiser. garcia said she was unaware of the claims.

"i have zero recollection of engaging in inappropriate behavior in such behavior is inconsistent with my values. her staffers say she may not remember it because she was inebriated. they go on to say she presided over a toxic workplace replete with heavy drinking and raunchy conversations. christina garcia has long said that alcohol is not an acceptable excuse for bad behavior. she is now on unpaid voluntary leave while the allegations are being investigated. >> mike: live from our west coast newsroom. many thanks. an editorial in "the new york times" recently called for a ban on pornography. the times isn't alone in wanting a crackdown. ellison barber reports for us tonight. >> dangerous and negative impacts. >> a republican member of the florida house of representatives has drafted a resolution to declare pornography i public health risk. >> we need to begin discussing,

investigating, researching, talking about the impacts of it on our states. >> he's not the first to propose something like it. at least six states have passed resolutions that say pornography is a public health concern. focused on a government funded program in boston that tries to teach high schoolers about healthy relationships and how to be critical consumers of pornography by discussing how it portrays things like gender, aggression, consent. some say it is so bad it is time to ban it or at least put government in it. >> it's hard-core depictions of women being raped, beaten, abused. doj could easily just enforce the laws that are on the books for obscenity. >> a study for the psychological association survey 330 men, mostly white and mostly heterosexual. they found that younger a man was when he first viewed pornography the more likely he was to want power over women.

>> the days of playboy are gone. today pornography is violent. >> correlation doesn't always mean causation. some experts say it's difficult to study the impacts on children. most researchers surveyed is not experimental because it would be unethical, illegal in most places to show it to a minor. >> the government wants to talk about it because they get a lot of headlines from it, even declaring a public health crisi crisis. it's just symbolic. there have actually been a lot of studies show that people who watch pornography as adults hold more feminist point of views. people might have access to more pornography that is scary but they also have more access to pornography that shows healthy sexuality. >> in that column they say that if society wants better men, pornography needs to be regulated and restricted. he argues that the #metoo movement is incomplete if it doesn't address the fact that some teams are learning about it

from hard-core pornography. others say society should talk about it, parents read, but they don't believe the government should be involved. >> mike: live here in washington tonight, thank you very much. elon musk's dream for a high-speed rail system connecting d.c. to new york may be coming closer to reality. the electric car pioneer recently launched the space as rocket, he has received a permit from the washington, d.c., government to start digging an area in northeast d.c. for the hyper loop project. if and when the system is built, a trip from washington, d.c., to new york city would take just 2. the doj says the indictments filed last week against russia contained no evidence the scheme impacted the 2016 election. so how vulnerable are the midterms to russian meddling, or is it all being blown out of proportion? peter doocy investigates. and, cruising for bruising. it knew tonight on what happened aboard a carnival cruise, and what the company plans to do

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>> mike: after more than a dozen indictments came down last week against russian individuals and organizations accused of meddling in the 2016 election, concerns have grown about the integrity of the upcoming midterms. correspondent peter doocy has taken a look at our biggest vulnerabilities and what we can do leading up to november. >> to figure out how to stop moscow from meddling in the

midterms, dozens of secretaries of state spent a long weekend in washington for meetings that started with a peek at vladimir putin's playbook in the latest mueller indictment. >> that was a million dollar a month operation, so that gives me an idea of the resources that we are working against. >> most of that money went towards propaganda. >> the biggest threat seems to be from the american public believing the many false stories that we are told out there during the last election. >> voting systems are vulnerable too. 21 states were targeted by russian hackers and many networks are still flawed. >> the end point security on most of those systems is outdated and it can't match up to the modern-day weaponry being created by the russian cyber adversaries. >> the fbi felt the system was safe because it is so spread out. >> the beauty of the american voting system is that it is dispersed among the 50 states and it is clunky as heck. that's not exactly a swift part of the internet of things. >> things have changed now that

more precincts have wi-fi. >> what happened is as the states involved with their use of technology to facilitate voting to increase the number of voters, to improve the process of voting, they have expanded the attack surface that can now be penetrated by foreign adversaries. >> this week into classified briefings were held for elected officials from every state. the sessions were all about "increasing awareness of foreign adversary intent and capabilities against the state's election infrastructure, as well as a threat discussion of thret mitigation efforts." 32 states remotely operated cyber hygiene scans for vulnerabilities in 14 states have requested on-site risk and vulnerability assessment, which won't be done until mid-april. but the dhs secretary kirstjen nielsen is telling state officials it is still ultimately up to them to keep election secure. >> she has absolutely no desire or no intention to take over elections and to run elections

from the federal level down to the state level. that was the thing we were the most enthusiastic about hearing from secretary nielsen. >> mike: the first primaries of the 2018 cycle are two weeks from tomorrow, so there's a great sense of urgency to beef p cyber defenses even though there still a publicly available evidence to show that russia or anyone ever hacked a holy place to change a ballot. >> mike: peter, thank you. a democratic candidate running to unseat congressman devin nunes of the house intelligence committee ironically complained to msnbc today that the media is too focused on russia. >> one of the things i've been criticized for this really only talking about russia, which couldn't be farther from the truth. no offense, but you folks in the media only talk about the russia thing. so when i'm out there talking about water and infrastructure, that's not covered, or that's not played on cable news. >> mike: joined me now to discuss is counterfeiting editor to "the daily caller" and

colonist at town hall, derek, and the executive residence at the american school of public relations. former ohio senate minority leader. extra coming into night. >> absolutely, thank you. >> mike: are folks too care more about pocketbook issues? >> there's no question that people in ohio and frankly across the nation care more about the economy, more about jobs, more about health care, more about infrastructure like this gentleman was talking about, than they do about russia. is it is important as we just heard from peter doocy about the circumstances surrounding the safety of our elections and whether or not russia is going to get involved at all of those things? absolutely. but democrats have to be for something. they can't just be waiting this flag about russia. we can't just be against donald trump. we need to talk about those issues that are important to the american public. that is what is going to make a successful 2018, not being

obsessed with russia. >> mike: your take on russia, russia, russia? >> if the russians had a dollar for every time the rest of the mainstream media talked about russia, they could have funded an anti-from campaign an anti-hillary campaign ten times the size of the one they actually funded. they spent the equivalent of a steak at morton's in wisconsin and flipped the state for republicans. and yet that is all you hear nonstop, nonstop, until there something horrible and then they switch for a couple of days and they immediately go back to russia. it sounds like jan brady going after her sister. it's a level of insanity and obsession that i think it's funny, i appreciate it. i don't know how many times you can drill down the same dry well before you start to think maybe there is something else going on in the world. >> i think it actually discredits the real issues surrounding russia. when we talk about things like the indictment that came out on friday, those are substantive issues. to politicize that does not do the actual law enforcement investigation any service and i

think looses credibility among democrats that we continue to be obsessed with it. >> that's predicated upon them having court ability and if you watch what's going on in the rest of the networks it has been a nonstop mantra. it is when let whatever the latest trope is to try and discredit the president of the united states. i know the term fake news is almost played out at this point, but there's nothing more accurate than saying fake news when it comes to this. you bring something to the table, bring some proof to the table, god forbid you bring some proof. and we can talk about it. up until then it is nonstop wild speculation. i'm from michigan, my family is going to work everyday. they have yet to have to convert their dollars to rubles. we are not inundated with russians. there isn't one behind every bush yet. and if they are out there i would like to see them exposed. but why don't we wait until we find some of them before we start crying wolf? >> mike: as part of this whole russia discussion, some folks are starting to ask if there was so much concerned about russia, why didn't president obama do

more about it? california congressman adam schiff, the top democrat on the intelligence panel had this to say. >> i've said all along that i thought the obama administration should have done more and indeed when we discovered and we can attribute the conduct to russia, senator feinstein and i took the four steps to make public retribution because at that time we couldn't get the obama administration to acknowledge the russia interference. >> i think the obama administration at the time and obviously hindsight is 20/20. i think they were paranoid about looking almost all also political in one way, shape, or form. when you have someone like -- there's enough culpability to come around and that what happened in 2016 was a real mess. >> how can there were about hillary clinton about if i say something what is going on somebody might find out where i'm coming from? we knew what he wanted. the real problem -- not really. election night the night before he was in philadelphia rocking out to bruce springsteen just

like everybody else. nobody went and voted. the real issue is nobody expected donald trump to win so they didn't think it would be an issue. they just said they are spending a few dollars here and a few dollars there and that's really all we are talking about. they just thought it would be an afterthought and maybe we could discuss it later a sort of maybe we need to get serious about corruption but they never thought conquered win. now we have a ready-made excuse. they have been beating that dru drum. >> mike: i appreciate the springsteen reference. thank you both very much. ♪ >> mike: time now for our real news roundup. pop star fergie breaking her silence in the now-infamous national anthem controversy. ♪

>> mike: the good news is everyone stood for the national anthem last night at the nba all-star game, but some couldn't stand what they were hearing. fergie's rendition of "the star-spangled banner" is getting scathing reviews on social media. even many players on the court were cringing. the singer has given a statement to tmz. "last night i wanted to try something special for the nba. i'm a risk-taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn't strike the intended tone. i love this country and honestly tried my best." actress jennifer lawrence accused of turning activist since she is taking a one-year sabbatical to focus on fixing our democracy. she is joining group called represent doubt us, which calls itself bipartisan and has several tea party members in its ranks. in fact, the self-described anticorruption group targeted a democrat, congressman jim hines with a stain featuring a fake citigroup lobbyist. >> so embarrassing.

>> thank you. why don't you take -- carry whatever you can. >> the liberal actress is helping raise funds for represent that us with a contest to go wine tasting with her in california. carnival cruise line reports it's investigating the way its workers responded to a massive brawl on board one of its ships. carnival reports it removed 23 passengers for disruptive and violent acts. a little smack down on a ship. but some passengers told reporters that the staff actually made things worse. the company apologized to its customers and offered them a 25% discount on future trips. not so fast. a new judge in the case against michael flynn puts pressure on robert mueller. could this mean flynn will reverse his guilty plea? we will go to night court to figure it a

>> mike: an update in the case of former national security advisor michael flynn, who pled guilty late last year to lying to the fbi in a special counsel's investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 election. shortly after that plea, judge emmet sullivan took over the case and ordered mueller's team to any evidence it has that

could exonerate flynn. sullivan issues this order in every criminal case he handles. what does this mean for flynn? bob and david, both criminal defense attorneys and former prosecutors. good evening. bob, is the michael flynn case unraveling? >> no, it's not unraveling at all. you have to remember what flynn in particular there are also a lot of state crimes that he could potentially be looking at. he got a very favorable sentence with the federal government so i know a lot of people are talking about president trump could pardon him, but he can't pardon him for state crimes like kidnapping, assault, wire fraud and things of that nature. based on that beneficial plea offer he got, he would be crazy in my mind to withdraw his plea. this is a standard thing the judge did. it's not going to change the facts and circumstances. it's not going to have any effect on the case. >> mike: david my guess is folks at home or saying how can you plead guilty and then say not so much?

>> generally speaking when people plead guilty if it judge goes through the document in painstaking detail that you are doing so knowingly and voluntary. in his specific plea agreement he also agreed to waive any further discovery at the point of the plea. i agree with bob. if he takes back his plea, than the federal government can prosecute him for all the crimes he's already pled guilty to, among others. not a good move for the flynn team. >> mike: what does flynn's legal team say that essentialism of this evidence that has been uncovered is beneficial to his case? >> we don't know right now. but they're basically saying is that the prosecutors -- federal court is different than state. they have a great advantage. a lot of times you don't get all of the data and information. as a former prosecutor in state court it was a lot harder. but now as a defense attorney when we walk people into federal court we basically don't know what it is that they've got. we do a proper session and then basically if your client says i

did this and we think the government has the evidence with got to start playing ball with team usa, but a lot of times we don't have all the reports like we do in state court. i don't think the lawyers are doing anything other than saying mike, stick with this because this 0-6 months right now based upon the acceptance and responsibility reduction credits you've got. a fancy way of saying for cooperating, and also don't hurt your son. >> mike: this material is not pertinent to the case and by the way he pled guilty? >> that's generally a position. however on friday judge sullivan amended that order to say that the government has to provide any favorable evidence during the course of the plea negotiations. that is different from the december order that sullivan signed. so right now the government is going to have to go back to all of its files and determine whether or not something is favorable that hasn't been provided. one additional point sullivan's

order says government, if you think something is favorable or maybe not so favorable, give it to me, i will review it, what is called in camera, away from the attorneys and i will make the decision. >> mike: we have to leave it there. gentlemen, thanks very much for staying up late with us. >> pleasure. >> you got it. >> mike: on this presidents' day we present a presidential tail and a presidential tail and a priceless one at liberty mutual stood with me when i was too busy with the kids to get a repair estimate. i just snapped a photo and got an estimate in 24 hours. my insurance company definitely doesn't have that... you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance.

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display but not subjected on the dna test. it's been a blast sitting in >> obama was president up to and beyond the 2016 election. why didn't he do something about russian middling. >> he didn't is not say something, he marked and chastised people who were warning about it. >> appearing in court today for another motion hearing 19-year-old suspect nikolaus cruz kept his head down and said nothing. >> you have a right to have a gun unless you are a felon or adjudicated. >> working with this organization to get young people engaged politically on a local level.