>> ed: all the things going on. moms are normally juggling a lot, and a whole lot going on for moms and dads. we'll never forget that. have a wonderful mother's day. i'll see you on monday. >> sandra: you, too, ed. have a wonderful weekend, everyone. "outnumbered" starts right now. >> harris: we begin with this fox news alert. we are awaiting the white house press briefing this hour, amid fast-moving developments in the russia investigation. attorney general bill barr is defending the justice to permit decision to seek a dismissal of its criminal case against president trump's former national security advisor michael flynn. ag barr says fbi officials said a perjury trap for flynn. and that there was no basis to investigate him in the first place. >> a crime cannot be established, here. they did not have a basis for the counterintelligence investigation against flynn. people sometimes plead to things that turn out not to be crimes.

>> harris: however, some key players in the russia probe now are blasting this decision, including former acting fbi director andy mccabe. >> general flynn was not targeted, he was properly investigated in a well-predicated case, a case that was investigated because we had reason to believe he presented a threat to national security. i still think that those things are worthy of investigation. >> harris: you're watching "outnumbered." i'm harris faulkner. here today, melissa francis. lara logan, host of "lara logan has no agenda," on fox nation. marie harf, serve america pac and fox news contributor. in the center box, bret baier, anchor and executive editor of "special report." we say on this fine friday that he is "outnumbered." bret, i will begin with you. what kind of reverberation is

this having washington today? particularly among democrats. the dropping of charges against general flynn. >> harris, a lot of things being said about attorney general barr, and lobbying all kinds of accusations that he is politicizing the justice department. but barr, in that interview with cbs, was pretty cut and dried. he set a u.s. attorney out to look into these charges for some time, to dig into them. and then, after the documents that we had released last week, that showed the lead-up to that investigation, and that interview at the white house. done without the knowledge of the white house counsel, done without the traditional ways you get to that. it raised a lot of questions, and it was that u.s. attorney that barr appointed that recommended these charges be dropped. obviously, bill barr is happy taking the fire.

he seems okay in that position. >> harris: you know, marie harf, it is surprising to somewhat see some silence from democrats on this. i'm sure they'll pipe up at some point. but adam schiff, to have said there was conclusive evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia very early on now, he's really in the hot seat. no matter how you look at this, the facts don't hold up to what he was saying. if your adam schiff, what is your friday like? >> marie: well, adam schiff has said quite a bit on twitter over the last 24 hours, both about some of the russia investigation transcripts that i think we'll talk about a little later, but also about the michael flynn case. bill barr has made it clear that he sees his job as one of defending the president. donald trump has made clear that he wants to do everything in his power to discredit to the russia investigation, even though it showed quite a bit of at least conversations between russian officials and trump campaign

officials. this is the latest example of it. yesterday, barr basically made a statement that said, "you can lie to the fbi, and that's okay." and there is still a ton of evidence that the investigation was absolutely an appropriate one, that flynn was absolutely someone who should have been investigated, and he come at the end of the day, chose to lie about his contact with foreign countries. if bill barr wants to say that's not a crime, that is a precedent i'm not sure either party wants to set, harris. >> harris: lara, is that how you see it? >> lara: wow. i feel like them in some kind of alternativalternative fantasy si movie. that couldn't be further from the truth. i'm not sure there's a word that came out of your mouth that's actually true. >> marie: wow. >> lara: just look at this transcript. >> marie: happy friday, everyone! [laughs] >> lara: look at the transcripts of the conversations. there's a big difference between

talking to people and colluding. if that's a standard for collusion, how come you not screaming for accountability for fusion gps and the dnc and the clinton campaign? for meeting with agents from vladimir putin, for taking this information and using that against the political rival in the presidential election in this country. i mean, the message was not just the message was exactly the opposite to millions of people in this country. now that you can just lie to the fbi and get away with it. the message was that accountability, that so many people in this country have been asking for for so long, it's finally actually going to happen. bill barr has never said that his mission is about defending president trump. he said it in the cbs interview and he said it from beginning, that his duty is to protect the rule of law in this country. to protect the justice department and law enforcement. he's doing that holding them to the standard to which they have sworn to uphold. and holding them to the same standard that every single

person in this country would be held to if they were facing similar charges. so, what about lying to congress? because all of these people -- mccabe and comey at all of them -- they have all lied and lied and lied. and there is more information to come, hear, that is going to show exactly what really happened with michael flynn. >> harris: well, we are being told that, that there's more to come. just your point -- i don't mean to cut in, you were paraphrasing with the ag said. we have it. let's roll it. >> i'm doing the law's bidding. i'm doing my duty under the law, as i see it. i also think it's sad that, nowadays, these partisan feelings are so strong that people have lost any sense of justice. >> harris: melissa? >> melissa: i mean, i agree with that sentiment. i would say that -- i went back and i did a walk through all of the headlines about collusion,

of adam schiff saying there is already direct evidence of collusion by the trump campaign. and it seems like a giant pile of promises made to people that hated president trump. that he was an asset, that there was collusion, that he wouldn't make it through his first term. if i wasieved everybody went on television and said, like adam schiff, "there is direct evidence, i just can't show it to you right now, but it'll come out," that's what he's saying on television and that he find out in his actual testimony he is saying something very different when he's under oath. i would just feel like i had been watching wish fulfillment television instead of news. and i would turn it off and cancel the publication and not go to the website or whatever it was, forever. >> harris: you know, this has happened in the last 15-20 minutes, bret. i want to ask you about it, some of the reporting fox news is doing, that the supreme court has issued a temporary stay on the release of the mueller grand

jury commission. it all kind of ties together, the mueller report with something that first told us there was no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. i don't know if we were waiting for further -- "we" meaning the nation -- and perhaps democrats on the hill hoping, but waiting for further evidence that maybe something was missed and there really was collusion. but now, if there is going to be a stay put on that, what do you think about that? >> bret: well, this is an executive prerogative, and that's what the supreme court is hanging its hat on. i believe -- i haven't seen the order but i saw the alert about it. >> harris: right. >> bret: basically, you have this battle to get out transcripts and information that essentially show how this investigation came to be. i know we are going to talk about it, but some of these transcripts of interviews, 53 different interviews by the house intelligence committee, they are stunning if you think of what was said behind closed

doors under oath. and what was said by tv pundits or on air. the disparity is very big, and if you put us back in that time, and the mind-set of where everybody was, it is starkly different than looking back now. >> harris: yeah. basically, behind-the-scenes versus polished up. you know how different the stories were. so, let's go there. more bombshells as the house intelligence committee is releasing those long-awaited transcripts from the russia probe, as bret is talking about. former obama intel chief, james clapper, testified in 2017, "i never saw any direct empirical evidence that the trump campaign or someone in it was plotting, conspiring with russians to meddle in the election." however, he also said, "that doesn't mean there weren't concerns about anecdotal evidence." and former obama national security advisor, susan rice, testified, "to the best of my

recollection, there wasn't anything smoking, but there were some things that gave me pause." so -- >> ten, i come to you smoking, versus giving you pause. we need evidence, in terms of concluding in investigation. we need evidence. >> lara: this is where i begin. i try to begin with, what are the facts? what are the things we actually know to be true? we know that what james clapper said was that vladimir putin was the greatest case officer in history and that he was running the president. that's what he looked like to him. that is a far cry from what he was saying behind closed doors. what's the difference? one is under oath, and one is not under oath. one is convicting someone in the court of public opinion and the pless, and one is actually when the palest of the metal, and you are held to account, and you can actually be held liable for breaking the lae the truth. the other one, you give the

message you want to send. i found extraordinary that organizations are continuing to treat james clapper and andrew mccabe in all these people as if they don't have a vested interest in the outcome of what we are talking about. you can't treat them in their responses to this as if they are just people with great expertise who are in a position to know, who are giving their reasonable and very seasoned opinion. no, that's not what they're doing. they have a vested interest in shaping the outcome, and some of these people are paid by news organizations to go on air now. that is one of the reasons -- >> harris: i want to get marie and to respond to respond to. >> lara: that's one of the reasons the media expect them to address that. >> marie: what james clapper and a number of other people have said that, when we were in office and the obama administration, during the campaign, there were a number of pieces of evidence that led an investigation to be opened, and a totally fair investigation, by

the way. a campaign having contact with russian officials and then lying about it. we know those are facts that happen, including the trump tower meeting. >> lara: [laughs] >> marie: and that's why there was an investigation place. i hear lara laughing, and she says nothing i said is accurate, but she names a lot of conspiracy theories that are popular on the internet. if you read the mueller report, yes, they said there was no criminal conspiracy. but they outlined a number of ways the trump campaign, even unethically, dealt with the russians, and will make a foreign government interfering in our election. >> harris: if all that is true, why couldn't democrats work with that? >> marie: what are we doing now to prevent this from happening again? >> harris: well, those are two different lanes. what you're saying is, how to be keep the russians -- hold on a second. what are we doing to keep the russians from interfering? that is a conversation you can have openly, bipartisanship on the hill. people can tell you exactly what

we're doing. what are we doing to keep an investigation that went forth based on feelings and public conferences and punditry and all that sort of thing? i don't know that you can stop that. i don't know that you can stop adam schiff from saying he has empirical evidence when in fact he doesn't. melissa? >> marie: it wasn't -- go ahead, melissa. >> melissa: i think is a very long distance between where democrats like marie are now, saying, "we had pause about this contact that happened." which, by the way, if we put on the screen the number of washington politicians, including nancy pelosi, who have met with kislyak, had meetings, had phone calls, gone to dinner, it would be a long list. if we did list everybody who did the same things now the democrats are talking about the president doing, it would be one standard. but there are things like this, here are the 18 reasons president trump could be a russian asset.

do you remember that opinion piece from "the washington post"? and all of the various publications who ran with that, and went on and talked about and brought experts on, the kind of experts that lara is talking about, to answer that question. i believe that mccabe was among them, who went on to address that question and say, "could he be an asset? well, wow, yes, maybe." there's a big, big difference. you can't look back now and say, "we were just looking at these emails on this contact that somebody had to, and denied having," or whatever it is. is a big difference from that to going on television or in a publication for a long period of time, and mulling the possibility that our president is a russian spy. >> harris: you know, it's interesting, because it's what lara was saying. i wrote on what he said, lara. he said, "behind closed doors, under oath, out in public, not under oath, singly my way to say." bret, real quick before we go to

break, what is at stake here for democrats? if it looks like some forged ahead ongoing after the president, but maybe not necessarily hunting for the facts as much to match the case they were trying to make. is that fair, and what's at stake in? >> bret: this whole episode is not a good look for democrats. this is not a good week for democrats. and has not been, from everything from tara reade, who we will talk about, to this evolution of talking points. on camera, as opposed to be under oath. full's, russia interfered and tried to affect the 20 the election the mueller report is very detailed and efforts russia went to. was left out in some of the talking about that was that it began with russia thinking hillary clinton was going to win, and degrading her

presidency. i think that it finally got to the place where russia fought donald trump was going to win, but the talking about the investigation went far away from just a russian interference. it became more about taking down donald trump. that's where we are. >> harris: yeah. wow become a great discussion. okay, another discussion that's going to be going on right now is with the brand-new press secretary, kayleigh mcenany, and the white house press briefing that's coming up this hour. we'll be watching for that. we'll carry it live, right here when it happens. and we'll be taking a look at those brutal jobs numbers, and the reality of where we are right now amid the pandemic, as an estimated one in five americans have filed for an appointment. with the president and his team are saying today. >> this is, of course, a function of the virus and the pandemic. i think of it more as a pandemic contraction, because i don't think the economic policies

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in the arms. -okay... transfer your service online in a few easy steps. now that's simple, easy, awesome. transfer your service in minutes, making moving with xfinity a breeze. visit xfinity.com/moving today. >> melissa: we are awaiting the start of the white house press briefing, where the staggering jobless numbers are expected to be a hot topic. american employers shedding 20.5 million jobs in april, pushing the unemployment rate to 14.7%. that is the highest level since the great depression, as the coronavirus pandemic sidelines millions of americans. while saying this was expected, president trump avows that the economy will bounce back as businesses reopen. >> i had one doctor who says, "well, we could keep it 2-3 years, that would be wonderful." you wouldn't have a country,

your country would break. we would have a record or almost record next year. he will have a transition in the third quarter, and it's happening already. you can see it. and the spirit now, there's a lot of spirit. >> melissa: in the meantime, congressional democrats are gearing up for a massive release package. >> we need big, bold action. speaker pelosi and i are working very closely together on putting together a very strong plan, which you will hear shortly. we need franklyn rooseveltia rooseveltian-type action, and we hope to take that under in the senate and a very big and bold way. >> melissa: marie, i will start with you. when you talk about having an fdr-type program and getting that aid out, when we look back at the cares act and the ppp program, there were so many unintended consequences. as much as everybody may have tried to move fast, and their heart was in the right place, you end up now with businesses who can't open because their employees won't come back,

because they are making more money on this enhanced unemployment than they would otherwise. you have people who then borrowed ppp money to play their employees, but because of what i said, they just kept them back. all these things the government designs, it seems like it doesn't work out the way they hope, and he spent a lot of money. so, should we do more of that? >> marie: well, these are certainly not perfect programs. we are trying to figure this out midstream. you've also seen a lot of success stories of businesses who were able to get funding from a government, and are able to keep paying their employees. melissa, it's interesting, another reason businesses are saying they don't want to reopen it or they can reopen yet is because workers don't feel like it's safe to come back to work yet. it's not about how much money they're getting. they don't feel like they have testing, tracing, ppe for them, masks and gloves, for example. they don't want to have workers come back in and have a second outbreak. there's a lot of reasons businesses are hesitant to reopen.

but the government does have a role to play, here. you've seen across the board, republicans and democrats come together on some of these packages and say, "we have to figure out how to make them work better," but americans are hurting and the federal government is the one entity who can provide some of this much-needed relief. >> melissa: okay, so, speaking of that much-needed relief, you look at california, for example, they were approved, bret, for an $8 billion loan just this week to try and cover the shortfall. there is federal funds, there was money in the cares act. but when we look at the states that are in the deepest hole right now, whether it's new york or california or others, it's an amazing coincidence that they are the states that tax their citizens at the highest rate. they take in the most revenue, no matter how you look at it, but they are in the biggest hole. how is that >> bret: you are. well, california, i think it's

$53 billion, the deficit. it is a huge hole. you look at new york, he look at you look at illinois. those are states with pre-existing problems prior to covid-19. that's one of the concerns with the state and city bailout talk. there will be efforts. by democrats, they are not revee legislation as of yet, but next week it will be rolled out. it will include all of this. now it will be a ping-pong match, really, between nancy pelosi and the senate. mitch mcconnell will then probably tack on some things like liability coverage for businesses, so they don't get a flurry of lawsuits that we've already seen. and there will be this ping-pong match, but nancy pelosi next week will have first serve. >> melissa: yeah. lara, when you look at the economic report that came out, and all the people sitting on the sidelines, one bit of news that the markets are focused on is this idea that three fourths of the people in the survey

believe that they are only temporarily unemployed, and that they are going to be able to go back to their same jobs very rapidly. that strikes me as very, very optimistic. do you think that number is really that high? that at least three fourths of those people will be able to pick up right back where they left off? >> marie: you know, what is so odd about this to me is that there is a message that is being pushed from the very beginning that nothing will ever really go back to normal. that there is a new normal. that we have to reinvent the way everything has been done. that we have to reinvent the restaurant industry. i saw someone doing a speech this week about how this pandemic has brought a much-needed disruption to the way movies are made. why do you need a disruption to the way the world was before? that is -- it just stands out, because it doesn't really match the facts, here. what was predicted at the beginning has not happened.

you don't see people standing up and saying, "wow, the federal government did an amazing job, we are much better off than we thought we were going to be." there were problems with this, problems with that, it wasn't perfect. but that tells me that one plus one does not equal to. why should people think they are going to go back to work? why shouldn't they think that? this was always supposed to be temporary. it was never supposed to be turned down my permanent. it excels even to the restrictions. the emergency restrictions that were put in place. the constitution specifically allows for that, for this, for lawmakers to impinge on the civil rights of people in this country in extreme circumstances. where you take temporary measures. it doesn't say that you can do this permanently. and yet, that is the nature of the conversation. so i don't find its shocking at all that lots of people think they are going back to their jobs. what isn't being talked about, though, is all the businesses that are not going to reopen, because they don't have the money to reopen. they'reot going to survive this. across the world right now, there are countries that are

already in a depression as a result of this. it is very extreme and drastic, and those measures are not supposed be permanent, right? unless you want not to live in the united states of america. perhaps some people do. >> melissa: yeah. no, that's exactly what i meant, that they were optimistic to think the businesses would still be there. if we stay close much longer, they might not be. we have the white house press briefing that is set to begin in minutes. we will bring you that live with press secretary kayleigh mcenany taking the podium, in a short time from now. we'll be right back. ♪ my time is thin, but so is my lawn. now there's scotts thick'r lawn 3-in-1 solution. with a soil improver! seed! and fertilizer to feed! now yard time is our time. this is a scotts yard. what do we wburger...inner? i want a sugar cookie... wait... i want a bucket of chicken... i want... ♪

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>> harris: we are awaiting a white house press briefing, and it is set to get underway at any moment now. press secretary kayleigh mcenany likely to face questions on the justice department's dropping its case against michael flynn, as well as the administration's continued covid-19 response. we'll bring you that briefing as

soon as it gets underway. >> we should not be running on character for the president of united states. >> you w h t wish he would. he won't, but i wish he would. lly. >> do you want an apology? >> i think it's a little late. >> harris: joe biden accuser, tara reade, speaking publicly for the first time since accusing the former vice president of sexually assaulting her in 1993. when asked about reade's claims during an interview yesterday, biden again denied the allegations, saying, "nothing ever happened with tara reade. women have a right to be heard, and the press should rigorously investigate claims like these. i will always uphold that principle. in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. in this case, the truth is these claims are flat-out false. false." two falses. en a quote.

marie harf, how much political distraction is this causing for the person he wants to be the next man in the white house? >> marie: i think it's certainly an issue being covered, and his campaign he has to address. and they have. he has denied the claim. he has called for a full investigation. if you look overall at what we are dealing with in this country, 75,000 americans dead, huge on employment numbers, this is something that biden should and has addressed, but the overall questions that are being debated as part of this campaign are so much bigger about what's happening in our country, i think it's something they are talking about on twitter, certainly, but most voters aren't on twitter. and i think most americans are not following -- >> harris: whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. let me stop the bus for a second. are you saying that, during a health crisis -- and no one would deny have serious situation is that we've been facing, some less than others, some more than others -- nevertheless, are you saying this particular woman, who should be heard, even according

to joe biden, that this particular case takes a backseat now because everything else? can't we handle more things at once then one thing? that's my question for you. >> marie: of course we can, but you asked me with applicable impact is. i certainly think people who are paying attention to the ins and outs of this every day on twitter, that's where megyn kelly posted her interview with tara reade, they are paying a lot of attention -- >> harris: well, now it's everywhere. >> marie: exactly. the challenge our country -- >> melissa: and youtube, actually. >> marie: excuse me, are so much greater, that it seems like -- >> harris: okay. >> marie: we have so many americans dead, that's a bigger story. spew when i see why dominic where you're pushing back on me, i think you're talking side-by-side. melissa, i think i'm going to come to you on this issue that i'm asking about. not trying to make a point. just asking about. is it fair to say? joe biden is not exactly solving the pandemic. it's not his role. he can pitch and edited advise and do all those things, but if you're running to be in the

white house and a woman says you did some untoward and even criminal behavior against her, i imagine you can multitask that. if he does want an investigation, what should his next steps be? >> melissa: i don't know that him calling for investigation -- i'm not sure what that means. i know that there are a lot of very sincere tha reported that n the case. the voter dug up, for example, this court filing that happened in 1996 that reade told her ex-husband she was sexually harassed while working for joe biden in 1993. so that was filed all the way back then, and shows that she at least told someone at the time that something happened. and they are working on digging out more details like that. i think the main problem for the campaign is that he is running -- that he is going to bring morality back to the white house, the soul of america. he's going to return.

he says he's running on character. when you state that as your main thing, and something like this comes out, it is going to hurt him a lot more than somebody who isn't running on that as their main -- the main foundation of their platform. >> harris: all right. real quickly, we are inside a two-minute warning now. bret, as you know, that can lengthen out or go shorter than that. so we are going to keep our eyes the white house press briefing is due to happen in the moment. that said, real quickly with you, bret, there have been reports that some democrats are looking at maybe a backup for joe biden. i don't know what that would look like. i don't know who that would be. but, you know, there's a list somewhere, i would imagine. is that the kind of conversation you're hearing about inside the beltway? why would that be happening? >> bret: here's the interesting thing. i agree with melissa and marie, and that is melissa is saying

that, if he's running on character, this becomes a bigger issue as long as it drags out further. tara reade, her story has changed over the years. there are multiple reasons for people's story to change. but she has more chronological dots on the timeline than the recent public allegations that we saw against brett kavanaugh and others. marie is also correct that there are bigger issues the country is dealing with, here, and i think that that is more of joe biden's issue. if you look at david axelrod and david fluff saying, "get out of the basement in delaware," his ability to communicate big issues virtually, a town hall campaign event yesterday really did not work out well for joe biden. tara reid, this story could keep going and be a big problem for him. more of a problem for him as a campaigner before election day. >> harris: interesting. all right, as we knew, this is happening inside the white house

press briefing. kayleigh mcenany, press secretary. let's watch. >> secretary mcenany: thank you to all of our veterans. you are truly, truly are heroes. now, as i moved to my next subject, i want to begin by saying this. look at, our rank-and-file men and women at the fbi are heroes in their own right. they protect this country from domestic crime, and we thank them for their service. they work hard, and once again, we owe them a debt of gratitude. but that is separate and apart from what i'm about to address right now. the fbi exists to investigate crimes. but in the case of lieutenant general michael flynn, it appears that they might have existed to manufacture one. as a motion filed by the department of justice yesterday explained, the fbi set out to interview general michael flynn when they had no predicate for any investigation of any crimes. over the past week, we learned from a handwritten note that the

true intent behind the fbi's investigation of lieutenan lieutenant general michael fly michael flynn. that very day, jim comey sent agents to the white house to interview flynn, the fbi discussed what their intent was beforehand. this is what they said. "what is our goal? truth admission, or to get him to lie so we can prosecute him or get him fired?" these notes, in addition to other evidence, raised serious questions about the handling of the fbi's handling of michael flynn's case. did the fbi confront flynn with the intent to get them to lie so that we could prosecute him and fire him? did the fbi manufacture a crime against lieutenant general michael flynn? federal investigators appeared to paint a target on the back of general michael flynn. kimberley strassel of "the wall street journal" laid out, point by point, the very

concerning aspects of this case. i'm going to reiterate them as outlined in her column over the weekend. in december 2016, flynn spoke as incoming national security advisor to the russian ambassador. this call, as is customary, was recorded by the united states government. the record calls with foreigners. in the highly irregular move, the intelligence community under the obama administration unmasked the identity of michael flynn, a united states citizen, who was entitled to fourth amendment rights and due process. but lieutenant general michael flynn received none of that. the intelligence community was hunting for evidence against general flynn, evidence they did not find. we learned from newly-released transcripts that, in stark contrast to what former dni james clapper had been saying publicly, and contrary to what he was saying, here's what he was saying privately with regard to russian collusion.

"i never saw any direct empirical evidence that the trump campaign or someone in it was plotting or conspiring with the russians to meddle with the election." sounds awfully different from what he had just said ten days prior in a public capacity. having found no evidence of russian collusion, the fbi came up with a new, absurd theory that flynn might have violated the logan act, a statute from 1799 that, in its 200 years of existence, had never been used to convict an american citizen. but it was wrecke resurrected ie case of lieutenant general michael flynn. michael flynn didn't violate the logan act. even the fbi did not think that general flynn's telephone call provided the predicate for a criminal investigation. in fact, in january of 2017, and internal document concluded that flynn would "no longer a viable candidate for investigation." disgraced if the agent and

notified schumpeter, peter strzok, disagreed. "if you haven't closed that flynn case yet, don't sue you db i don't it was a good thing for strzok, but a bad thing for justice. a bad thing for the rule of law. according to history's motion to dismiss the case against lieutenant general michael flynn, it said this. "mr. strzok immediately relayed the serendipitously good news to lisa page, special counsel at the fbi, remarking, our utter incompetence actually helps us." that's right, their "utter incompetence" to close the case against general michael flynn was something to be serendipitously celebrated. the scheme to manufacture a case against michael flynn continues. after president trump entered office, the fbi's partisan pursuit of general flynn

proceeded. despite possessing a transcript of flynn's entire conversation, the fbi decided it was somehow necessary to go ask general flynn what happened on the call, despite having a transcript in their possession. the only motive would have been to "get him to live." they advised him he didn't need a lawyer present. imagine that, you're an american citizen. you don't a lawyer, we're just coming into have a chat. they didn't inform their superiors at the department of justice about their interview flynn, despite their own attorney at the fbi saying, "if we usually tell the white house, i think we need to do what we normally do." but they ignored the advice of fbi counsel, and they went into interrogate michael flynn. acting attorney general sally yates, no fan of president trump's, said she was flabbergasted, she was dumbfounded by the decision to not inform doj officials, who "hit the roof." this is all outlined in the

legal document you can find. additionally, when the fbi arrived at the white house, they did not even warn about the consequent as for providing an inaccurate response. the interrogation of michael flynn was not an inquiry. make no mistake. it was a trap. even more troubling was the fact that, after the interrogation of flynn, former deputy director of the fbi, andy mccabe, concluded that he, "didn't think flynn was lying." but the case against flynn continued. we were pleased to learn yesterday that the justice department moved to drop the case against general michael flynn, though it took several years. it is encouraging to see that justice finally prevailed. as we move forward as a country, it's important to take these revelations very seriously in order for americans to have faith in our justice system. if the top leadership of the fbi can target a three star general who served this country for

three decades, make no mistake, they can target you. it's hard to believe that this happened in the united states of america. general michael flynn's life was forever changed. he had to sell his home. he faced financial ruin. his family was even threatened with prosecution. despite all of that, here is what michael flynn put out yesterday, his first reaction to the motion to dismiss. if we can play the video, let's go ahead and play it. i don't think we have the video, but i heard you all to go on general flynn's twitter feed. we will see is a really beautiful video of his grandson talking about how much he loves his country. how everyone deserves justice for all. and how commendable that is for general flynn at a time when he was so gravely wrong to, to say this. "i still believe in this country, i still believe in

america, i still believe in the principles that make this country the greatest on earth." in the words of renowned political philosopher baron de montesquieu, there is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice. i hope the media will take these questions very seriously, will report the facts. there is heavy interest in the first indication of news for many years ago, that got more coverage than michael flynn got today. that was reported by the media centers. these facts are important, and thank you for those who have taken interest in reporting. with that, i will take questio questions. you were coked on mike so kind of a trip to honeywell, see you get the first one. >> reporter: thank you, and congratulations on becoming press secretary. >> secretary mcenany: thank you. >> reporter: putting aside the situations michael flynn, to the unemployment rate hit the highest point since the great depression. what does the president planned to get this country out of this ditch? >> secretary mcenany: this president is the job's president.

this president got us to a place where we had the lowest employment rate in the history of this country. historic lows for black americans, hispanic-americans, and disabled veterans. of the president has noted, this is right. we have to put a stop to the economy. it was a -- this wasn't some economic catastrophe that organically happened. it was decided upon by the president of the united states to stop the united states economy. because we had to save 3.3 million lives. that's what mattered most. this president, when faced with a very toug tough decision to pa pause on the hottest economy in the country, he's an american lives matter most. i can tell you this, the president who got us to the hottest economy in modern 'll do it again. >> reporter: with the plan? >> secretary mcenany: we will work with congress and come up with a face 4. we urge the house to maybe reconvene soon. it would be helpful if

nancy pelosi was here. the ppp, the paycheck protection program, that has really kept a lot of employees on the payroll. 16 million employees, roughly paid half the workforce. they've been kept on the payroll thinks that measure. going forward, the principles like deregulation, like lowering taxes, the president has mentioned the payroll tax pause, which would be a great thing for the american people. there are a lot of proposals being entertained. i do want to get of the present, but i can tell you -- >> reporter: isn't there a problem, though? he wants to get back to work, he wants a governess to reopen the estate, but if americans aren't covered going to restaurants and movie theaters, how do you get this economy moving again? what is the plan? >> secretary mcenany: i can tell you there's a lot of pent up demand in this country. there are a lot of people who do want to go out to restaurants, who do want to go to movies, who do want to go back to their jobs. we hear it and see it every day. people can trust that we have a president who wants to reopen and reopen safely. these are data-driven guidelines to reopening. the president has those in

place. there is no reason to be concerned, because we have a president who always looks at the data, as dr. fauci and dr. birx have repeatedly noted. >> reporter: kayleigh, there is a second confirmed case of cova nation at the white house today. a member of the vice president staff. that's two in two days in a building where people are being tested now, including the president and the vice president come every day and having the temperature checked. why should the average american not have access to these rapid tests still go to work, with the white house isn't even safe for people? >> secretary mcenany: this individual, there is a member of the vice president's team who is positive for coronavirus. we have put in place the guidelines that are experts have put forward to keep this building safe, which means contact tracing, all of the recommended guidelines, these businesses that have essential workers. we are putting them in place here in the white house. as america reopen safely, the white house is continuing to operate safely.

>> reporter: kayleigh, we saw the present go down to the world where material dominic mori with a group of heroes all in their 90s. did he give any consideration to wearing a mask given his valet discussed the positive, needs with some of those in the most vulnerable population connected to consider wearing a mask while he was with these veterans? >> secretary mcenany: this president is readily tested. he will make the decision as to whether he will wear a mask or not. i can tell you, those veterans are protected. they made the choice to come here, because they have chosen to put their nation first and wanted to be with their commander in chief on this momentous day. it was their choice to come here, and i can tell you that the president always puts the safety of our veterans first and the american people first. >> reporter: how much exposure has he had to his valet? >> secretary mcenany: i can just tell you taken every single precaution to protect the president paid the same guidelines that are experts have put in place, to clean the

facility. we social distance, we key people 6 feet away from one another. we've done every single thing that dr. birx and dr. fauci have asked us to do. i can assure the american people that there commander in chief is protected. >> reporter: thanks, kayleigh pritt i want to ask you about the gilead drug, remdesivir. which government agency is in charge of distributing that drug? is the white house disturbing that around the country? >> secretary mcenany: i spoke with dr. birx about this page she will be consulting with a structured go. she is the person who is constantly reviewing the numbers, constantly reviewing the data, and the task force is with her every day. she has the best grasp of how that's to be this tribute it. she will be one of the chief consultants about how that drug is distributed. i would note, all the vials donated by gilead. this drug is promising and we want to get it to the american people and the areas that need it most. >> reporter: thanks so much, and congratulations.

>> secretary mcenany: thank you. >> what is the possibility of the federal government getting involved in the arbery case? he was chased and killed because he is an african-american, and the racial profiling. with the justice department's consider getting involved? >> secretary mcenany: first i want to say that my heart goes out to the family of ahmaud. i can't imagine what they are going through right now. my heart breaks for this family. i know the president's heart breaks. i have spoken him about that. i can tell you, we will follow the facts right now. as you know, it's in the court in georgia. it is a state matter. absolutely, we will be following every detail on that. i do for you to doj, as the facts merit. i am certainly they will be filing those facts >> reporter: the second question i have come in 2015, shorter after the president said some mexican immigrants are racist and criminal, he said that language was racist and hateful.

do you still believe that today? >> secretary mcenany: i'm actually glad you asked that, because for about the first four weeks of the election i was watching cnn and i was naively believing some of the headlines that i saw on cnn i'm actually not going to read the headlines. i very quickly came around for the president. in fact, when he hired me, i was on panels where proudly supported this president who i believe is one of the best presidents, if not the best president this country will ever have. i would encourage the individual who did that analysis of my past, rather than focusing on me, he really should be focused on some of the various guests cnn has on their network. you should focused on jim clapper, who said ten days before he probably told visitors there was no evidence of collusion, that watergate pales in comparison to the russia pro. i would encourage them to look at samantha powers, who

privately is saying, "i'm not in possession of any evidence of collusion." ambassador writes, "i don't recall intelligence or evidence of any collision." former attorney general loretta lynch, "i don't recall that being brief to me." for three years, probably more than that, cnn ran with occlusion narrative. if the american people are watching right now, they are probably ver confused as to somf the court to repay their sinker for it topically than private. perhaps they should do analysis of that. report mike are you walking back those comments today? >> secretary mcenany: i support this president. there is no questioning that. next question. >> reporter: on michael flynn's case, kayleigh, they suggest the members of the intelligence community tried to keep the case against michael flynn ongoing. i'm wondering if you should think there should be investigation, and whether the admits ration is considering bringing charges against people like james clapper and

peter strzok. >> secretary mcenany: i refer you to the doj on that, but there were some very, very questionable actions that happened in this case. i think the american people deserve answers. i leave it to the justice department as to how to get those answers. yes? >> reporter: has the president spoke into michael flynn since his news yesterday? do you expect -- >> secretary mcenany: i'm not aware of any conversations that have taken place. i'm not aware of any future plans that would regard michael flynn. >> reporter: and ask one more? larry kudlow said negotiations on the next stimulus are on hold right now. given where the numbers are in unemployment, from her perspective on the white house perspective, why is it? >> secretary mcenany: i think nancy pelosi should explore coming back and having the house come back, and having those discussions. we know the senate is here. i think it's important for us to move and look at a phase 4. the president thinks so, all salsa. those negotiations will happen, but a big part of this is we need the house. we need nancy pelosi to come

back from california and get to washington, d.c., and get to work for the american people. >> reporter: thank you. and congratulations on your new role. >> secretary mcenany: thank you very much. >> reporter: yeah. following up on the questions about getting back the economy, getting it started again, to the president see the cdc guidelines as an obstacle to getting the country back up and running again? if he does not see the cdc guidelines as an obstacle, why not release those guidelines to the public, and also follow them as we move forward? >> secretary mcenany: i assume you're talking about the guidelines that were widely reported about yesterday, about day cares. yes, so, i would ask you, what is the definition of "cdc guidelines?" is it something the cdc director has actually seen? i would endeavor to say yes. is it something that a rogue cdc employee leaked to you guys? no, those are not cdc guidelines per those are guidelines in

draft form that they've given you. that's in the editing process. we want the american people to get as much information as they can possibly have at this time. that's why we have the phase to reopening guidelines, the data-driven guidelines. those cdc guidelines are going through an editing process. when we have those, you guys will be the first to know. how are we on time, melissa? okay. 2 minutes to 1:00. i'm sorry to cut this short. as you know, we were supposed to meet with 3 minutes go with the president of the united states. i will leave you guys with that. you have a wonderful weekend. >> reporter: both the president and the vice president -- is that's really what -- >> harris: with that, use the report is continuing to try and ask the press secretary, kayleigh mcenany, more questions. but she is wrapping. here's what we can tell you coming out of that. her focus in the beginning, talking about the charges, the

case dropped against the president's former national security advisor, michael flynn. that's where she started. she gave detailed reasons about why that case was dropped. she gave detailed reasons about how his life had changed, michael flynn, and invited people to go to his twitter page for video. i've just checked it out. it is of his family, his grandson. kayleigh mcenany, in her way, she's laying out the facts. she is also personalizing the situation. then we moved on. we hit two news points and all of that. one of the news points was that a staffer for the vice president has tested positive for covid-19. she assured everybody in the room that they are doing all that they can to make sure that these things i found out through testing, and so forth. she mentioned tracing, with regard to the people around the president and the vice president. so, they are doing that. and then, as you just heard her say, the president has a live event that is scheduled just moments from now. the same pool of reporters and

journalists who were in that room are now going to wear the president is, and the state dining room, where he is meetin. we'll be covering that live. we are told is going to be a live event, and it's going to take place in the next little while. that is going to wrap up "outnumbered." give us just a second. we are going to reset with "outnumbered overtime." literally, a second. >> it was a very dangerous situation, what they did. these were dirty politicians, and dirty cops, and some horrible people. hopefully they are going to pay a big price someday in the not-too-distant future. >> harris: all right. so, you had kayleigh mcenany they are on "outnumbered." welcome to "outnumbered overtime." i'm harris faulkner. we are continuing, we just showed you the president and his latest words about the russia investigation. and how that has unraveled because of documents coming out, and now this case against michael flynn also dropped. i want t